1,1" 


jr.' 


Of 


«"*" 


fCi 


intljeCttpctllmgork 

THE  LIBRARIES 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH 


OP     THE 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH 


OF     THE 


MOST   REV.  JOHN  CAREOLL, 


J^trst  Jlrcl)bt9ljop  of  Baltimore: 


SELECT  PORTIONS  OP  HIS  WRITINGS. 


EDITED     BY 

JOHN    CARROLL    BRENT. 


BALTIMORE: 
PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  MURPHY, 

146    MARKET    STREET. 

MDC  CCSLIII. 


Entered,  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  forty-lJiree,  by  John  Carroll  Brent,  in  the  clerk's  office  of 
the  District  court  of  Mar>iand. 


//f  f^r 


PRINTED    AND   BOUND   BV  JOHN    MCRPHT, 

146  Market  street,  Daliimore. 


THE  MOST  REV.  SAMUEL  ECCLESTON, 

THE    PREaE:<T 

Worthy  Head  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  m  the  U.  States  of  America, 

THI3     WORK     IS     RESPECTFULLY     DEDICATED 

B?  HIS  FAITHFUL  AKD  OBEDIENT  SERVANT. 

THE  EDITOR. 


P  H  E  r  A  C  E. 


In  presenting  to  the  patronage  of  the  public 
the  following  Biographical  Sketch  of  the 
Most  Rev.  John  Carroll,  first  Archbishop 
of  Baltimore,  the  editor  deems  it  proper  to 
make  a  few  preliminary  remarks. 

Having  come  into  possession  of  the  unfin- 
ished manuscript  of  the  late  Daniel  Brent, 
(Consul  of  the  United  States  for  Paris, 
France,)  the  nephew  and  executor  of  the 
distinguished  subject  of  this  Memoir,  the 
subscriber  considered  it  an  act  of  duty,  as  it 
has  become  one  of  love,  to  carry  into  execu- 
tion the  original  intention  of  its  author,  thus 
unfortunately  interrupted  by  his  death.  He 
is  well  aware  of  the  difficulty  of  the  task, 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

owing  to  the  time  that  has  elapsed  since  the 
demise  of  the  Archbishop,  the  scattering  and 
destruction  of  many  of  his  papers,  and  the 
consequent  inability,  on  liis  part,  to  treat  the 
subject  as  fully  as  he  would  desire,  and  as  the 
nature  of  it  would  demand.  But,  urged  on 
by  a  wish  to  do  tardy  though  inadequate 
justice  to  the  memory  of  a  prelate  whose 
services  in  the  cause  of  religion,  and  attach- 
ment to  his  native  land,  should  never  be  for- 
gotten, and  cheered  by  the  hope  of  being 
able  to  contribute  his  mite  for  the  benefit  of 
the  first  congregation  the  Archbishop  estab- 
lished in  this  country,  to  the  repairing  of 
whose  church  he  w^ill  devote  a  portion  of  the 
proceeds, — the  undersigned  has  ventured  to 
undertake  a  task  which,  however  incomplete, 
may  induce  some  one  more  competent  to 
apply  himself  to  the  composition  of  a  more 
detailed  Biography. 

It  has  been  deemed  proper,  in  order  to 
afford  the  reader  an  opportunity  of  forming 


PREFACE.  IX 

his  own  estimate  of  the  style  and  literary 
productions  of  Archbishop  Carroll,  to  intro- 
duce a  part  of  his  journal  in  Europe,  one  or 
two  of  his  sermons,  and  a  few  of  his  con- 
troversial writings  and  letters. 

In  order  to  insure  a  good  engraving  of  the 
portrait  of  the  Archbishop,  the  editor  has 
secured  the  services  of  the  best  artists  in 
this  country;  and  he  thinks  it  sufficient  to 
mention,  that  it  is  from  a  faithful  and  cre- 
ditable copy  by  the  Messrs.  Bogle,  of  Bal- 
timore, of  the  original  portrait  by  Stuart, 
now  in  the  possession  of  Lloyd  N.  Rogers, 
Esq.  of  Druid  Hill,  who  kindly  gave  the  use 
of  it  for  that  purpose. 

He  finally  returns  his  most  sincere  thanks 
to  the  Rev.  gentlemen  of  Georgetown  Col- 
lege, to  whom  he  is  indebted  for  much  valu- 
able information,  and  to  those  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  clergy,  who  have  evinced  an  inter- 
est in  a  work  which  they  feel  assured  is  for 
the  benefit  of  that  religion  of  which  they 


X  PREFACE. 

are  such  zealous  pastors;  in  proof  of  which, 
he  adds  the  approbation  of  the  Most  Rev. 
Samuel  Eccleston,  the  present  Archbishop 
of  Baltimore,  and  a  copy  of  a  letter  from 
the  Very  Rev.  William  Matthews,  rector  of 
St.  Patrick's  church,  in  this  city. 

John  Carroll  Brent. 

Washington  city,  D.  C,  December,  1842. 

"  The  Sketch  of  Archbishop  Carroll's  Life,  written 

by  the  late  Daniel  Brent,  Esq.,  will,  in  the  absence  of 

a  more  extended  Biography,  be  read  with  interest  and 

edification." 

•f-  Samuel,  Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 

John  Carroll  Brext,  Esq. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  attentively  perused  your  very 
interesting  memoir  of  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Car- 
roll, and  from  my  intimate  acquaintance  with  him, 
know  it  to  be  correct.  The  Catholic  community  in 
parts  of  the  United  States  have  long  and  anxiously 
expected  this  highly  important  work,  and  will  hail 
with  great  satisfaction  its  forthcoming. 

Your  humble  servant, 
(Signed)  W.  Matthews. 

Washington  city,  D.  C,  January  19,  1842. 


ERRATA. 

The  following  errors  have  escaped  the  notice  of  the  editor,  owing  to  his  being 
at  a  distance  from  the  city  during  the  course  of  publication. 
For  "of,"  in  11th  line  of  aist  page,  read  "  from." 
Before  "done,"  in  10th  line  of  106th  page,  read  "had." 
For  "was,"  in  14th  line  of  118th  page,  read  "were." 
For  "  Deux  Pouts/'  in  8th  line  of  aoGth  page,  read  "Newbourg." 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH 


OF    THE 


MOST  EEY.   JOHN   CAHROLL 


Daniel  Carroll,  the  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  biography,  belonged  to  a  Roman  Catho- 
lic family  of  high  respectability  in  Ireland, 
which  had  forfeited  its  property  to  the  crown 
on  account  of  its  religion. 

At  a  very  early  period  of  his  life  this  gen- 
tleman migrated  to  the  then  colony  of  Mary- 
land, to  seek  his  fortune,  or  rather  to  procure 
the  means  of  living,  and  with  the  hope  of 
experiencing  by  the  change  some  relief  from 
the  multiplied  privations  under  which  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland  were  at  that  time  sut- 
fering.  He  settled  at  Upper  Marlbro'  on  the 
Patuxent,  where  he  established  himself  as  a 
merchant,  and  under  the  guidance  of  a  sound 
and  excellent  judgment,  by  steady  industry, 
unshaken  probity,  and  scrupulous  punctuality 
in  his  dealings,  acquired  a  competent  estate 
2 


14  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

before  his  death,  always  conciliating  to  him- 
self in  a  high  degree,  the  esteem  and  consid- 
eration of  all  who  knew  him. 

Within  a  few  years  after  his  settlement  at 
^larlbro',  ^Ir.  Carroll  married  Eleanor, 
daughter  of  Henry  Darnall,  esquire,  a  Roman 
Catholic  gentleman  of  the  neighborhood,  who 
had  inherited  the  family  seat  of  the  Wood- 
yard  and  adjoining  lands  to  an  immense  ex- 
tent;— but  wliich  were  then  partly,  and  af- 
terwards entirely,  alienated  from  his  family, 
througii  the  improvident  management  and 
easy  disposition  of  tlie  proprietor. 

By  this  union,  however,  Mr.  Carroll  acquir- 
ed a  treasure  far  beyond  the  value  that  mere 
riches  could  confer.  In  his  young  wife  were 
blended  all  the  qualities  calculated  to  render 
the  conjugal  state  delightful.  With  an  ex- 
cellent and  discriminating  mind  were  united 
in  the  character  of  this  lady  the  best  accom- 
plishments that  a  finished  education,  assisted 
by  a  natural  graciousness  of  temper,  could 
impart; — her  father  having  at  a  very  early 
period  of  her  life  placed  her  in  a  select  school 
in  France,  where  she  continued  with  corres- 
pondent advantage  till  she  had  completed  her 
education,  when  she  returned  to  Maryland. 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  15 

In  all  the  domestic  and  social  relations  of 
life,  the  virtues  of  this  lady  shone  forth  with 
peculiar  lustre,  exhibiting  her  in  the  various 
characters  of  daughter,  sister,  wife,  mother, 
and  friend,  in  the  most  amiable  and  edifying 
lights;  a  spirit  of  genuine  and  unostentatious 
piety  incessantly  co-operating  with,  and  aid- 
ing, the  native  benevolence  of  her  heart,  in 
the  exercise  of  all  the  charities  and  offices 
growing  out  of  her  station  in  society. 

Many  years  afterwards,  having  lived  to  see 
her  son,  who  had  closely  imitated  the  virtues, 
and  profited  by  the  lessons  and  examples  of 
his  parents,  elevated  by  the  Holy  See  to  the 
highest  dignity  of  the  Church  in  this  country, 
she  closed  her  eyes  in  peace,  at  an  age,  but 
seldom  attained  by  man.  In  a  letter  of  May 
23,  1796,  to  his  intimate  friend,  the  Rev. 
Charles  Plowden,  the  Bishop  thus  announces 
the  loss  he  had  recently  encountered :  "  I 
likewise  have  to  tell  mine  to  you — my  good 
and  venerable  mother  closed  her  long,  and  I 
may  add,  her  holy  life,  on  the  3d  of  February, 
in  the  full  possession  of  her  intellectual  facul- 
ties, till  she  ceased  to  speak  an  hour  or  two 
before  her  death.  She  was  in  the  93d  year 
of  her  age," 


16  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

The  following  anecdote,  showing  the  cause 
and  motives  of  the  first  emigration  of  the  Car- 
roll family  to  this  country,  was  related  by 
the  late  venerable  and  illustrious  Charles 
Carroll  of  Carrollton : 

"  It  is  stated  that  one  of  his  ancestors  was 
secretary  to  lord  Powis,  a  leading  minister 
of  James  II.  Remarking  to  his  lordship  one 
day,  that  he  was  happy  to  find  that  public 
affairs  and  his  majesty's  service  were  pro- 
ceeding so  prosperously,  the  secretary  receiv- 
ed for  answer  '  You  are  quite  in  the  wrong, 
affairs  are  going  on  very  badly;  the  king  is 
very  ill  advised.'  After  pausing  a  few  min- 
utes his  lordship  thus  addressed  Mr.  Carroll : 
'  Young  man,  I  have  a  regard  for  you,  and 
would  be  glad  to  do  you  a  service — take  my 
advice ;  great  changes  are  at  hand :  go  out  to 
Maryland — I  will  speak  to  lord  Baltimore  in 
your  favor.'  He  did  so,  obtained  some  gov- 
ernment situation  with  considerable  grants 
of  land,  and  left  his  family  among  the  largest 
proprietors  of  the  Union." 

John,  the  subject  of  this  biography,  and 
the  third  son  of  Daniel  and  Eleanor  Carroll, 
was  born  at  Upper  Marlbro'  on  the  8th  of 
January,  in  the  year  1735, 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  17 

We  have  no  traces  of  liis  boyish  days, 
except  in  traditionary  accounts  of  a  promis- 
ing development  of  genius,  and  uncommon 
docility  of  manners  and  disposition. 

At  the  very  early  age  of  twelve  years  he 
was  sent  to  a  granunar  school  at  Bohemia, 
in  Maryland,  from  which  he  was  soon  after- 
wards transferred  to  the  college  of  St.  Omer, 
in  French  Flanders,  under  the  exclusive  di- 
rection of  the  Jesuits.  In  this  school,  so 
justly  celebrated  for  the  learning  of  its  pro- 
fessors, and  for  the  indefatigable  care  and 
assiduity  with  which  they  cultivated  the 
minds  of  their  pupils,  our  young  American 
became  conspicuous  for  capacity  of  mind, 
attention  to  his  studies,  and  the  docility  and 
kindness  of  his  character. 

After  having  gone  through  the  usual  course 
of  a  collegiate  education,  with  eminent  ad- 
vantage and  distinction,  during  the  six  years 
he  passed  within  the  walls  of  this  institution, 
he  was  advanced  to  the  study  of  the  higher 
branches  of  science  and  literature  in  a  college 
at  Liege,  under  the  direction  of  members  of 
the  same  society.  Here  he  perfected  himself 
in  these  studies,  and  it  was  in  this  school  that 
he  formed  the  resolution  of  going  through  an 
2* 


18  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

ecclesiastical  course,  with  a  view  to  the 
priesthood,  and  to  the  devoting  of  himself  to 
the  service  of  the  Church. 

After  having,  in  consequence,  passed 
through  the  novitiate,  he  was  ordained  priest 
in  1769,  became  a  professed  father  in  1771, 
renouncing  beforehand,  in  favor  of  his  brother, 
Daniel  Carroll,  esquire,  (who  died  in  1796, 
and  was  well  known  throughout  the  revolu- 
tionary war,  and  since  the  adoption  of  the 
federal  constitution,  as  a  member  of  the  high- 
est councils  of  this  nation,)  and  of  his  two 
youngest  sisters,  the  estate  which  had  been 
bequeathed  to  him  by  his  father,  who  died 
some  vears  before. 

The  following  sketch  of  this  eminent  and 
useful  statesman,  will,  it  is  deemed,  be  not 
out  of  place  here,  as  connected  in  an  intimate 
degree  with  the  subject  of  our  memoir: 

Daniel  Carroll,  the  brother  of  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  w  as  born  at  Upper  Marlbro' 
in  the  State  of  Maryland,  on  the  22d  July, 

1730. 

The  excellent  attainments  and  talents  of 
Mr.  Carroll  did  not  fail  to  recommend  him  to 
the  favorable  notice  of  his  countrymen,  as 
soon  as  the  shackles  were  removed,  w^hich 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  19 

had  been  placed  upon  the  Roman  Catholics 
of  his  native  state,  by  the  hand  of  bigotry 
and  intolerance,  and  they  were  admitted  to 
a  free  participation  of  the  political  distinc- 
tions and  emoluments  of  office,  and  placed  in 
all  other  respects  upon  an  equal  footing  with 
the  members  of  other  christian  denominations. 

He  was  accordingly  elected  a  member  of 
the  first  senate  under  the  constitution  of  Ma- 
ryland, immediately  after  the  formation  and 
establishmentof  that  constitution,  and  thence- 
forward was  almost  constantly  and  uninter- 
ruptedly employed  in  the  public  service  till 
a  few  years  before  his  death — as  a  member 
of  the  senate  or  executive  council  of  Mary- 
land;— one  of  the  delegates  in  the  old  con- 
gress, or  as  one  of  the  members  of  that  state 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  in  the  first 
congress  under  the  present  constitution  of  the 
United  States.  He  had  been  likewise  one 
of  the  delegates  of  the  same  state  in  the 
federal  convention  of  1787,  which  framed 
that  constitution. 

In  all  these  situations  he  was  eminently 
distinguished  by  patriotic  zeal,  solidity  and 
discrimination  of  judgment,  the  prudence  and 
wisdom  of  his  counsels,  as  well  as  by  an  en- 


20  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

tire  exemption  from  all  taint  of  selfishness, 
in  reference  to  the  popular  favor.  To  his 
efforts  in  congress,  as  much  as  to  those  of 
any  other  member,  may  justly  be  ascribed 
the  location  of  the  permanent  seat  of  the 
general  government  at  Washington,  and  at 
the  expiration  of  his  term  of  service  in  that 
congress,  tlie  first  under  the  present  consti- 
tution, he  was  associated  by  president  Wash- 
ington in  a  commission  with  the  late  gov- 
ernor Johnson  of  Maryland,  and  Dr.  David 
Stewart,  of  Virginia,  for  carrying  the  plan  of 
that  location  into  effect.  From  his  advanced 
age  and  growing  infirmities  he  resigned  this 
appointment  in  a  few  years,  and  shortly  af- 
terwards his  mortal  career  was  closed  in 
deatli.  He  died  in  May,  1796,  in  the  66th 
year  of  his  age. 

According  to  the  usage  and  discipline  of 
the  Jesuits,  of  whose  society  he  had  so  recent- 
ly become  a  member,  the  subject  of  this  me- 
moir was  sent  back  to  the  college  of  St. 
Omer,  to  conduct  a  professorship  in  that 
school.  After  remaining  a  short  time  at  St, 
Omer,  he  returned  to  Liege  where  he  direct- 
ed the  studies  of  the  higher  classics;  and  it 
was  at  the  period  when  he  was  thus  employ- 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  21 

ed,  in  1773,  that  the  order  for  the  suppression 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus  was  carried  into  exe- 
cution, by  the  expulsion  of  its  members,  the 
dispersion  of  the  pupils  and  the  shutting  up 
of  the  colles^e :  that  of  St.  Omer  and  all 
others  under  the  government  of  the  Jesuits 
within  the  dominions  of  France, — simulta- 
neously sharing  the  same  fate. 

On  this  occasion  our  young  ecclesiastic 
wrote  an  able  and  eloquent  vindication  of 
the  Society  of  the  charges  unjustly  brought 
against  it  by  its  enemies.  It  is  a  subject  of 
deep  regret  that  a  principal  part  of  this  mas- 
terly performance  is  lost,  otherwise  it  should 
be  embodied  in  this  sketch,  as  w^ell  to  exhibit 
a  brilliant  specimen  of  the  genius  and  erudi- 
tion of  the  ex-Jesuit,  as  to  remove  some  por- 
tion of  the  obloquy  w^hich  it  is  so  common  to 
heap  upon  that  celebrated  society.  It  was 
not  deemed  safe  at  the  time  to  print  it;  but 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  was  trans- 
lated into  different  languages,  and  the  manu- 
script copies  greatly  multiplied; — that  it  w^as 
extensively  used,  and  produced  some  small 
relaxation  in  the  execution  of  the  rigorous 
orders  for  the  suppression  of  the  society  and 
the  expulsion  of  its  members,  so  far  at  least 


22  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

as  related  to  the  colleges  of  St.  Oiiier  and 
Liege. 

The  following  extract  is  a  brief  summary 
of  the  causes  to  which  he  ascribes  the  sup- 
pression— "  These  apostolic  men,  eternal  foes 
to  vice,  whether  it  appeared  in  palaces  or 
hovels,  under  regal  robes  or  squalid  rags, 
could  never  be  prevailed  on  to  come  to  terms 
with  the  wicked  and  compromise  the  cause 
of  their  divine  IMaster.  Hence  lascivious  and 
irreligious  courtiers  leagued  together,  per- 
verted the  minds  of  weak  and  improvident 
nionarchs,  and  formed  the  abolition  combina- 
tion." 

For  further  elucidation  of  the  same  subject, 
we  shall  add  to  the  above  extract  the  copy  of 
a  paper  of  more  modern  date  in  his  own  hand 
writing,  found  amongst  his  papers,  containing 
a  concise  account  of  the  means  resorted  to 
by  the  Court  of  Spain  to  accomplish  the  sup- 
pression of  the  Society  of  Jesuits  in  the  do- 
minions of  Austria  and  France. 

"  The  Pope  always  answered  the  solici- 
tations of  the  Bourbon  ministers,  that  the 
House  of  Austria  was  opposed  to  the  ex- 
tinction— Count  Matron i,  ambassador  from 
Spain  at  Vienna,  having  concerted  his  ma- 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  23 

ncELivre  with  Prince  Kaunitz,  (whose  cha- 
racter is  that  oi"  a  professed  and  open 
Deist,)  went  into  the  empress  queen's  cabi- 
net, (he  was  much  in  the  empress'  favor,) 
when  she  asked  him,  as  usual,  concerning  the 
health  of  the  king  of  Spain — Matroni  an- 
swered that  he  was  well,  but,  from  his  great 
regard  for  her  majesty,  much  affected  at  her 
misunderstanding  with  the  Holy  See.  She 
was  startled  at  this, — declared  herself  an 
obedient  daughter  of  the  Church,  and  assur- 
ed him  that  there  was  no  misunderstanding, 
and  asked  him  what  he  meant — Matroni  then 
told  her  that  the  Pope  wished  to  destroy  the 
Jesuits,  but  was  deterred  by  her  declaring 
that  she  would  oppose  and  resist  the  Pope, 
should  he  attempt  it.  She  declared  that  she 
had  never  said  so,  and  that  she  would  in  that, 
as  in  every  thing  else,  obey  the  decrees  of 
the  Holy  See.  Matroni  having  brought  mat- 
ters to  this  issue,  asked  her  majesty  if  he 
might  communicate  this  to  his  Court. — She 
consented.  But,  says  he,  madam,  the  king 
is  so  much  impressed  with  contrary  advices, 
that  he  will  give  no  credit  to  my  despatches, 
unless  your  majesty  will  order  your  minister 
to  give  me  an  official  letter  to  the  same  pur- 


24  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

port.  Go,  said  she,  to  Kaiinitz,  and  tell  him 
to  give  it  you.  Kaunitz  was  called,  the  letter 
given,  and  Matroni  immediately  sent  an  ex- 
press to  Madrid.  From  Madrid  the  original 
official  letter  of  Kaunitz  was  sent  to  Rome, 
laid  before  the  Pope,  and  removed  his  last 
subterfuge,"  Father  Hussey  says  he  read 
this  in  Count  Matroni's  despatches,  and  a 
subsequent  one  to  and  from  Rome. 

"  In  consequence,  the  brief  of  dissolution 
was  got  ready,  and  sent  to  France. — D'Ar- 
guillon,  the  minister  of  France  and  creature 
of  Spain,  carried  it  to  Louis  XV.,  who,  in  the 
midst  of  libertinism,  respected  religion.  He 
declared  the  brief  should  not  be  published, 
and  ordered  D'Arguillon  to  send  an  express 
to  Rome,  that  moment,  to  prevent  its  being 
issued — D'Arguillon  remonstrated,  but  all  in 
vain.  He  left  the  king  and  sent  in  madame 
de  Barri. — She  found  the  king  agitated,  be- 
gan with  asking  the  cause,  reproached  him 
for  abandoning  the  House  of  Bourbon,  coaxed 
and  cajoled  him,  and  in  fifteen  minutes  got 
the  order  recalled  for  sending  away  the  ex- 
press." Father  Hussey  says  he  read  this  de- 
tail in  Count  Aranda's  despatches.  Aranda 
was  the  Spanish  ambassador. 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  25 

Upon  the  subject  of  the  final  suppression 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  Mr.  Carroll  thus 
writes  to  his  brother,  Daniel  Carroll,  Esq., 
under  date  of  Bruges,  September  11,  1773: 

"I  this  day  received  a  few  lines  from 
Daniel,  of  July  15,  in  which  he  complains 
with  much  reason  of  my  long  silence.  My 
mind  is  at  present  too  full  of  other  things  to 
make  any  apology.  After  spending  part  of 
the  autumn  of  1772  at  Naples,  and  its  envi- 
rons, we  returned  to  pass  the  winter  at 
Rome,  where  I  stayed  till  near  the  end  of 
March,  from  thence  came  to  Florence, 
Genoa,  Tunis,  Lyons,  Paris,  and  so  to  Liege 
and  Bruges.  I  was  willing  to  accept  of  the 
vacant  post  of  prefect  of  the  sodality  here, 
after  consigning  Mr.  Stourton  into  his  father's 
hands  about  two  months  ago,  that  I  miglit 
enjoy  some  retirement,  and  consider  well  in 
the  presence  of  God  the  disposition  I  found 
myself  in  of  going  to  join  my  relatives  in 
Maryland,  and  in  case  that  disposition  con- 
tinued, to  get  out  next  spring.  But  now  all 
room  for  deliberation  seems  to  be  over.  The 
enemies  of  the  society,  and  above  all  the  un- 
relenting perseverance  of  the  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  Ministries,  with  the  passiveness 
3 


26  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

of  tlie  court  of  Vienna,  has  at  lensfth  obtained 
their  ends  :  and  our  so  long  persecuted,  and 
I  must  add,  holy  society  is  no  more.  God's 
holy  will  be  done,  and  may  his  name  be 
blessed  forever  and  ever  !  This  fatal  stroke 
was  struck  on  the  21st  of  July,  but  was  kept 
secret  at  Rome  till  the  16th  of  August,  and 
was  only  made  known  to  us  on  the  5th  of 
September.  I  am  not,  and  perhaps  never 
shall  be,  recovered  from  the  shock  of  this 
dreadful  intelligence.  The  greatest  blessing 
which  in  my  estimation  I  could  receive  from 
God,  would  be  immediate  death  :  but  if  he 
deny  me  this,  may  his  holy  and  adorable  de- 
signs on  me  be  wholly  fulfilled.  Is  it  possi- 
ble that  Divine  Providence  should  permit  to 
such  an  end,  a  body  wholly  devoted,  and  I 
will  still  aver,  with  the  most  disinterested 
charity,  in  procuring  every  comfort  and  ad- 
vantage to  their  neighbors,  whether  by 
preaching,  teaching,  catechizing,  missions, 
visiting  hospitals,  prisons,  and  every  other 
function  of  spiritual  and  corporal  mercy  ? 
Such  I  have  beheld  it  in  every  part  of  my 
travels,  the  first  of  all  ecclesiastical  bodies 
in  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  faithful, 
and  certainly  the  most  laborious.     What  will 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  27 

become  of  our  flourishing  congregations  with 
you,  and  those  cultivated  by  the  German 
fathers  ?  These  reflections  crowd  so  fiist 
upon  me  that  I  almost  lose  my  senses.  But 
I  will  endeavor  to  suppress  them  for  a  few 
moments.  You  see  that  I  am  now  my  own 
master,  and  left  to  my  own  direction.  In  re- 
turning to  Maryland  I  shall  have  the  comfort 
of  not  only  being  with  you,  but  of  being  far- 
ther out  of  the  reach  of  scandal  and  defama- 
tion, and  removed  from  the  scenes  of  dis- 
tress of  many  of  my  dearest  friends,  whom 
God  knows,  I  shall  not  be  able  to  relieve. 
I  shall  therefore  most  certainly  sail  for 
Maryland  early  next  spring,  if  I  possibly 
can." 

Speaking  of  his  apprehensions  of  a  fatal 
combination  against  the  society  of  which  he 
was  so  zealous  and  attached  a  member,  he 
makes  the  following  remarks  in  another  let- 
ter from  Bruges  to  his  brother : 

"Before  you  receive  this  letter  you  will 
have  heard  of  the  Pope's  death:  in  human 
appearance,  nothing  could  have  happened 
more  unfortunate  to  us,  especially  in  the 
critical  moment  when  an  answer  was  to  have 
been  given  to  the  memorials  of  three  united 


28  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

courts  of  the  family  compact,  France,  Spain, 
and  Naples,  requiring  the  immediate  dissolu- 
tion of  the  society.  His  Holiness  had  him- 
self minuted  the  heads  of  the  answer  he  in- 
tended to  make  in  a  few  days,  and  had  de- 
livered it  to  his  ministers  to  be  put  into  the 
due  form.  The  substance  of  it  was,  that  no 
worldly  consideration,  no  loss  of  temporali- 
ties, should  ever  force  him  into  any  measure 
which  he  could  not  justify  to  his  own  con- 
science :  that  the  more  he  saw  and  knew  of 
the  Jesuits,  the  more  he  was  convinced  of 
their  eminent  services  to  religion,  and  of  the 
falsehood  of  the  imputations  charged  upon 
them  :  that  he  could  not  therefore  acquiesce 
in  the  proposal  made  him  by  the  allied  courts. 
The  answer  entered  into  a  much  larger  de- 
tail than  I  here  mention,  and  would  have 
been  a  olorious  testimonv  of  his  Holiness'  es- 
teem  and  affection  for  the  society.  How 
matters  will  go  on  in  the  conclave,  and  after 
the  election  of  the  new  Pope,  Heaven  knows. 
Humanly  speaking,  we  have  every  thing  to 
dread  from  the  combination  formed  against 
us  :  vet  when  I  reflect  on  the  atrocious  false- 
hoods, injustices,  cruelties,  and  mean  artifi- 
ces employed   against  us,  I  greatly  confide 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  29 

that  God's  providence  will  not  permit  our 
dissolution  to  be  effected  by  such  wicked 
means.  I  know  his  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world,  and  that  they  who  seek  to  do  his  di- 
vine will,  and  promote  his  glory,  are  not  to 
expect  a  visible  interposition  in  their  favor 
on  every  occasion,  or  to  receive  in  this  life 
an  apparent  testimony  of  innocence  and  di- 
vine approbation." 

In  another  letter  to  the  same  gentleman, 
he  speaks  of  the  intrigues  at  the  court  of 
France,  against  the  Jesuits,  and  which  were 
crowned  with  success,  soon  after  the  date 
thereof,  in  1764,  by  their  expulsion  from  that 
kingdom,  in  the  following  eloquent  and  touch- 
ing terms : 

"  The  death  of  the  famous  Marchioness  de 
Pompadour,  will,  it  is  generally  believed  by 
our  French  brethren,  occasion  some  great 
change  in  their  circumstances ;  so  far  is  cer- 
tain, that  they  are  delivered  by  this  event 
from  their  greatest  enemy,  I  mean  the  most 
powerful  one,  and  who,  by  her  interest  and 
influence  over  the  king  of  France,  could  more 
easily  than  any  one  else,  prevail  upon  him  to 
view  tamely  the  proceedings  against  the  Je- 
suits, which  she  underhandedly  encouraged 

3* 


30  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

by  all  the  arts,  which  cunning  and  power 
could  put  into  her  hands.   The  Jesuits  ground 
their  hopes  upon  the  declared  attachment  of 
all  the  royal  family  to  their  interests,  upon 
the  intimate  connection  and  intelligence  sub- 
sisting between  the  king  and  his  queen  and 
children,  since  the  great  lady's  death,  upon 
the  zealous  intercessions  of  the  bishops,  all 
the  prime  nobility,  and  every  order  of  magis- 
trates in  the  different  cities  and  towns  where 
the  Jesuits  were  heretofore  established.     If 
we  add  to  this  the  general  discontent  that 
has  ensued  upon  the  appointment  and  con- 
duct both  in  morals  and  literary  pursuits  of 
the  newly  installed  masters  for  the  education 
of  youth,  we  cannot  absolutely  pronounce 
these  hopes  to  have  an  object  merely  chime- 
rical :  but  1  will  own  to  you  that  the  irreso- 
lute behaviour  which  has  appeared  so  much 
in  the  French  government,  on  many  late  oc- 
casions, makes  me  apprehend  that  vigor  will 
be  wanting  to  bring  about  so  desirable  a  re- 
volution, as  it  is  likely  to  meet  with  great  op- 
position   from    several    parliaments,   whose 
principles  are  very  imcompatible  with  those 
the   Jesuits   would   endeavor    to    maintain 
and  propagate  in  case  of  their  restoration. 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  31 

Thus  you  see  the  prospect  before   us  gives 
but    little   cause    to   be   content   with  this 
world,  whilst  past  sufferings  have  served  to 
strengthen,  if  possible,  our  belief  in  another 
better  and  more  equitable  than  this.     And 
indeed  to  a  man  lying  under  the  public  im- 
putation of  crimes,  for  which  his  own  con- 
science clears  him,  and  who  is  persuaded  of 
the  existence  of  a  Deity,  I  know  no  proof  of  an 
immortality  more  sensible  and  comfortable, 
than  this  reflection,  that  an  all  powerful  and 
infinitely  just  Being  cannot  consistently  with 
those  attributes,  refuse  him  in  another  life 
that  justice,  which  passion  and  iniquity  have 
denied  him  in  this.     To  pretend  as  some  an- 
cient  and   modern   unbelievers   have   done, 
that  virtue  and  a  good  conscience  is  its  own 
reward,  argues  very  little  knowledge  of  the 
human  heart,  for  many  a  hardy  villain,  from 
a  natural  alacritv  and  cheerfulness  of  mind, 
and  possessed  of  worldly  enjoyments,  seldom 
finds,  at  least  for  any  long  time,  his  remorse 
to  prey  much  upon  him,  or  disturb  his  plea- 
sures, whilst  several  good  men  on  the  con- 
trary, from  an  unhappy  temper  or  sickly  con- 
stitution, but  rarely  feel  any  even  intellectu- 
al enjoyments.     I  cannot  otherwise  account 


32  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

for  my  having  fallen  into  this  train  of  philo- 
sophising which  I  hope  you  will  excuse,  than 
because  I  have  habituated  myself  to  it,  as 
the  best  relief  amidst  so  many  affecting  and 
melancholy  scenes." 

When  the  suppression  was  completely  ef- 
fected he  retired  to  England,  where  he  acted 
some  time  as  the  secretarv  to  the  former 
members  of  the  society  born  in  the  British 
dominions,  in  the  remonstrances  which  they 
made  to  the  government  of  France  on  the 
subject  of  the  property  belonging  to  the  two 
colleges  of  St.  Omer  and  Liege,  most  of  his 
brethren,  who  had  been  attached  to  these 
colleges,  having  also  retired  to  that  country. 

Being  intimately  acquainted  with  and 
known  to  most  of  the  Catholic  nobility  and 
gentry  of  England,  he  was  prevailed  upon  by 
Lord  Stourton,  a  highly  respectable  noble- 
man of  that  religion,  to  make  the  continental 
tour  with  his  son,  in  the  character  of  gov- 
ernor or  preceptor. 

The  journal  which  he  kept  on  this  occa- 
sion, is  remarkable  for  its  just  and  wise  re- 
flections, is  replete  with  the  classical  taste 
and  erudition  of  the  writer,  and  indulges  in 
a  free  criticism  upon  the  journals  of  former 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  33 

travellers  over  the  same  ground.*  While  en- 
gaged in  this  tour,  he  wrote  likewise  a  suc- 
cinct history  of  England,  for  the  use  of  his 
pupil,  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue,  principally  to 
guard  his  young  mind  against  the  general  ir- 
religious tendency  of  some,  and  the  particu- 
larly hostile  tendency  of  other  writings,  upon 
the  same  subject,  against  the  Catholic  faith. 
On  his  return  to  England,  he  was  solicited 
by  the  then  Lord  Arundel,  another  Catholic 
nobleman,  to  reside  in  his  family,  as  well  for 
the  purpose  of  administering  in  the  character 
of  chaplain,  the  consolations  of  a  persecuted 
and  oppressed  religion  to  the  members  of 
that  illustrious  house,  still  steadfast  in  the 
faith  of  its  ancestors,  as  to  aflford  to  them  the 
singular  advantages  and  enjoyment  of  his 
society :  and  being  at  liberty  to  do  so,  by  the 
extinction  of  the  society  of  Jesuits  under 
whose  banners  he  had  enlisted,  and  to  whose 
orders  he  would  have  paid  a  ready  obedience 
in  encountering  the  toils  and  dangers  and 
privations  of  the  most  forlorn  mission,  he  ac- 
cepted the  invitation  which  had  been  given  to 
him,  and  became  a  resident  in  the  family  of 
Lord  Arundel.     In  the  hospitable  retreat  of 

*  For  Journal,  see  Appendix. 


34  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OP  THE 

Wardour  castle,  the  seat  of  his  noble  patron, 
adorned  by  the  virtues  which  shone  forth  so 
conspicuously  in  the  lives  of  Lord  and  Lady 
Arundei,  the  resort  of  the  best  society  of 
England,  the  chaplain  of  the  family  was  pre- 
eminently distinguished  by  the  spontaneous 
attention  and  kindness  which  a  respect  for 
his  talents,  accomplishments,  and  attainments 
never  failed  to  inspire  :  but  amidst  these  fas- 
cinating circumstances  he  did  not  for  a  mo- 
ment lose  sight  of  the  evangelical  character 
with  which  he  was  invested,  nor  suffer  the 
homage  paid  to  his  worth  and  talents  to 
weaken  in  the  smallest  degree  the  spirit  of 
true  humility  which  had  been  deeply  im- 
printed in  his  heart. 

After  a  residence  of  a  year  or  two  at  War- 
dour  castle,  he  was  warned  by  the  state  of 
the  differences  between  England  and  her 
colonies  to  turn  his  attention  to  his  own  coun- 
try, and  to  avail  himself  of  the  first  opportu- 
nity that  might  occur  for  returning  to  his  na- 
tive land  from  which  he  had  been  so  long  se- 
parated, but  towards  which  he  ever  enter- 
tained that  warm  and  active  attachment  so 
often  afterwards  displayed  during  the  course 
of  his  long  and  useful  career :  his  detention 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  35 

in  Europe  having  been  protracted  by  a  la- 
tent hope,  very  precious  to  his  heart,  that  the 
society  of  Jesus  might  be  re-established  in 
the  Catholic  states  of  the  continent  and  their 
dependencies. 

He  accordingly  embarked  in  one  of  the  last 
ships  that  sailed  for  the  Potomac  before  the 
commencement  of  the  Revolutionary  war, 
and  landed  at  Richland,  in  Virginia,  the  seat 
of  William  Brent,  Esq.,  who  had  married  his 
second  sister. 

To  those  who  respect  the  finest  feelings  of 
the  human  heart,  which  impel  us  by  a  mys- 
terious sympathy  to  such  as  are  connected 
with  us  by  the  ties  of  blood,  it  is  needless  to 
remark,  that  the  scene  which  ensued  was  a 
joyful  and  an  interesting  one.  Mr.  Carroll 
found  himself  surrounded  on  a  sudden  by  the 
numerous  families  of  his  two  sisters,  the 
oldest  one  being  also  married  to  a  gentleman 
of  the  same  name  and  neighborhood,  and  a 
near  relative  of  the  husband  of  his  second 
sister,  to  Robert  Brent,  Esq.,  one  of  his  earli- 
est acquaintances  and  friends,  his  school  fel- 
low and  companion  at  Bohemia,  and  his 
classmate  and  fellow  student  at  the  college 
of  St.  Omer.     In  a  heart  like  that  of  Mr. 


36  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

Carroll,  such  a  scene  was  peculiarly  calcu- 
lated to  awaken  the  kindest  emotions.  In 
no  period  of  his  existence  abroad  did  distance 
ever  sever  him  in  affection,  nor  avocation  or 
society  withdraw  him,  from  a  correspondence 
with  his  family  in  this  country.  In  a  letter 
which  he  wrote  to  his  brother-in-law,  Mr. 
Robert  Brent,  he  says ;  "  I  know  not  what  ef- 
fect absence  may  have  upon  the  minds  of 
other  persons :  but  upon  mine  it  increases 
the  solicitude  which  I  feel  for  the  well  being 
of  those  with  w  horn  I  am  always  connected." 
And  there  is  not  one  of  his  relatives  surviv- 
ing who  cannot  call  to  mind  some  particu- 
lar token  of  affection  and  kindness,  received 
at  his  hands,  and  all  are  bound  to  remember 
with  gratitude  the  lessons  of  wisdom  and 
truth  which  he  constantly  gave  them  and  en- 
forced by  his  example. 

With  such  strong  natural  affections,  and 
w  ith  social  propensities  of  corresponding  en- 
ergy, those  only,  who  were  well  acquainted 
with  him,  can  estimate,  in  its  due  proportion, 
the  extent  of  the  sacrifice  which  he  offered 
up,  when  he  became  a  Jesuit,  and  bound  him- 
self by  the  solemn  obligations  of  a  vow  to 
obey  the  mandates  of  his  superiors,  whither- 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  37 

soever  they  might  carry  him,  into  whatsoever 
remote  or  inhospitable  climates  beyond  the 
reach  of  kindred  or  friends  or  the  abodes  of 
even  civilized  man. 

After  spending  two  days  with  the  families 
of  his  sisters  in  Virginia,  he  hastened  to  the 
residence  of  his  mother  in  Montgomery  coun- 
ty, Maryland,  whither  she  had  retired  with 
her  two  youngest  daughters,  soon  after  the 
death  of  his  father,  eager  to  evince  in  per- 
son, the  love  and  respect  which  he  had  so 
long  cherished  in  absence,  for  this  best  of 
mothers  and  women  :  and  to  greet  with  cor- 
dial affection  and  kindness  his  surviving  bro- 
ther, already  mentioned  (the  first  having  died 
in  infancy),  and  his  tw^o  other  sisters. 

After  the  usual  endearments  of  such  meet- 
ings, he  lost  no  time  in  entering  upon  the 
active  exercise  of  the  duties  of  the  priesthood, 
collected  together  the  dispersed  Roman  Ca- 
tholics residing  in  Montgomery  county,  uni- 
ted them  in  congregations  which  he  inces- 
santly watched  over  and  instructed,  both  bv 
word  and  example.  In  a  little  time  he  ex- 
tended his  attention  to  the  families  of  his  two 
sisters,  settled  in  Stafford  county,  Virginia, 
and  to  the  Roman  Catholics  in  their  neigh- 
4 


38  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

borhood :  for  the  Catholic  religion  having 
been  professed  and  practised  in  the  family  of 
the  ancestors  of  his  brothers-in-law  from  the 
earliest  settlement  of  that  county,  though 
at  some  periods  with  great  risk  and  hazard, 
— other  families  of  that  conniiunion  had  been 
drawn  to  that  neighborhood,  w^ho,  together 
formed  a  small  congregation,  that  was  occa- 
sionally visited  by  a  priest  from  Maryland, 
who,  on  these  occasions,  celebrated  mass  and 
administered  the  sacraments  of  the  Church 
in  the  house  of  the  Brent  family  at  Aquia. 

While  he  continued  in  the  care  of  these 
congregations  they  afforded  gratifying  proofs 
of  the  moral  and  religious  effects  produced 
upon  the  character,  habits,  and  manners  of 
the  people  composing  them,  by  the  influence 
of  the  virtues,  the  talents,  and  admonitions  of 
their  active  and  zealous  pastor,  all  combined 
for  their  instruction  and  edification.  With 
the  blessing  of  God,  the  congregation  thus 
established  by  the  zeal  and  industry  of  Mr. 
Carroll  in  Montgomery  county,  after  having 
afforded  to  its  pious  founder  during  his  life- 
time, every  assurance  of  increasing  useful- 
ness and  prosperity,  has  continued  with 
steady  progress  under  the  zealous  guidance 


MOST  REV,  JOHN  CARROLL.  39 

If 

of  good  pastors,  to  perpetuate  the  advantages 
of  divine  worship  to  a  growing  community. 

The  little  congregation  at  Aquia,  owing  to 
the  emigration  of  the  Brent  family,  and 
other  local  causes,  has  unfortunately  not  been 
kept  together,  and  the  efforts  of  its  clergy- 
men, were  not  crowned  with  permanent  suc- 
cess. 

At  this  period  he  was  called  to  the  perform- 
ance of  other  duties,  by  which  his  congrega- 
tions were  to  undergo  the  temporary  loss  of 
his  ministry  and  services.  His  talents  and 
virtues  had  given  him  a  high  reputation,  and 
his  zeal  and  good  wishes  in  the  cause  of  his 
native  land,  now  engaged  in  its  struggle  for 
independence  were  well  known.  These  cir- 
cumstances, added  to  the  consideration,  that 
he  was  a  minister  of  the  religion  professed 
by  the  people  of  Canada,  and  familiarly  ac- 
quainted with  their  language,  habits,  and 
character,  induced  a  solicitation  on  the  part 
of  the  commissioners,  whom  Congress  had 
appointed  from  their  own  body,  that  he 
would  accompany  them  on  their  mission  to 
Canada.  The  gentlemen  charged  with  this 
important  and  delicate  duty,  were  Dr.  Ben- 
jamin Franklin,  Sanmel  Chase,  and  Charles 


40  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

Carroll  of  CarroUton,  (tlie  last  named  being 
intimately  connected  with  him  by  the  ties 
of  relationship  and  early  association  at  the 
same  schools  in  this  country  and  in  Europe.) 
To  this  request,  Mr.  Carroll  acceded,  with 
the  view,  so  far  as  he  was  to  have  an  agen- 
cy, to  induce  the  inhabitants  of  that  country, 
who  professed  the  same  religion  with  him- 
self, to  remain  neutral,  and  to  refrain  from 
taking  up  arms  on  the  side  of  Great  Britain: 
— further  than  this  he  deemed  it  incompati- 
ble with  his  character  as  a  minister  of  reli- 
gion to  interfere. 

The  mission  proved  unsuccessful,  and  it  is 
believed  that  the  commissioners  were  not 
suffered  to  proceed  further  than  Montreal. 

The  following  letter  from  Mr.  Carroll  to 
iiis  mother,  dated  Montreal,  May  1st,  1776, 
descriptiv^e  of  his  journey  thither,  may  prove 
interesting  to  our  readers.  He  says :  "  We 
have  at  length  come  to  the  end  of  our  long 
and  tedious  journey,  after  meeting  with  seve- 
ral delays  on  account  of  the  impassable  con- 
dition of  the  lakes  :  and  it  is  with  a  longing 
desire  of  measuring  back  the  same  ground, 
that  I  now  take  up  my  pen  to  inform  you  of 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  41 

my  being  in  good  health,  thank  God,  and  of 
wishing  you  a  perfect  enjoyment  of  yom-s. 

"  We  came  hither  the  night  before  last  and 
were  received  at  the  landing  by  General  Ar- 
nold, and  a  great  body  of  officers,  gentry,  &c. 
and  saluted  by  firing  of  cannon,  and  other  mi- 
litary honors.  Being  conducted  to  the  gen- 
eral's house,  we  were  served  with  a  glass  of 
wine,  while  people  were  crowding  in  to  pay 
their  compliments,  which  ceremony  being 
over,  we  were  shown  into  another  apartment, 
and  unexpectedly  met  in  it  a  large  assem- 
bly of  ladies,  most  of  them  French.  After 
drinking  tea,  and  sitting  some  time,  we  went 
to  an  elegant  supper,  which  was  followed 
with  the  singing  of  the  ladies,  which  proved 
very  agreeable,  and  would  have  been  more 
so,  if  we  had  not  been  so  much  fatigued  with 
our  journey.  The  next  day  was  spent  in  re- 
ceiving visits,  and  dining  in  a  large  company, 
with  whom  we  were  pressed  to  sup,  but  ex- 
cused ourselves  in  order  to  write  letters,  of 
which  this  is  one,  and  will  be  finished  and 
dated  to-morrow  morning. 

"I  owe  you  a  journal  of  our  adventures 
from  Philadelphia  to  this  place.     When  we 

came   to   Brunswick  in  the  Jersey  govern- 

4* 


42  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

ment,  we  overtook  the  Baron  de  W ,  the 

Prussian  general  who  had  left  Philadelphia 
the  day  before  us.  Though  I  had  frequently 
seen  him  before,  yet  he  was  so  disguised  in 
furs,  that  I  scarce  knew  him,  and  never  be- 
held a  more  laughable  object  in  my  life. 
Like  other  Prussian  ofticers,  he  appears  to  me 
as  a  man  who  knows  little  of  polite  life,  and 
yet  has  picked  up  so  much  of  it  in  his  passage 
through  France,  as  to  make  a  most  awkward 
appearance.  When  we  came  to  New  York, 
it  was  no  more  the  gay,  polite  place  it  used 
to  be  esteemed:  but  was  become  almost  a 
desert,  unless  for  the  troops.  The  people 
were  expecting  a  bombardment,  and  had 
therefore  removed  themselves  and  their  ef- 
fects out  of  town :  and  the  other  side  the 
troops  were  working  at  the  fortifications  with 
the  utmost  activity.  After  spending  some 
disagreeable  days  at  this  place,  we  proceeded 
by  water  up  to  Albany,  about  160  miles.  At 
our  arrival  there,  we  were  met  by  General 
Schuyler,  and  entertained  by  him,  during  our 
stay,  with  great  politeness  and  very  genteely. 
I  wrote  to  you  before,  of  our  agreeable  situa- 
tion  at  Saratoga,  and  of  our  journey  from 
thence   over  lake  George  to   Ticonderoga  : 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  43 

from  this  latter  place  we  embarked  on  the 
great  lake  of  Champlain,  about  140  miles  to 
St.  John.  We  had  a  passage  of  three  days 
and  a  half.  We  always  came  to  in  the  night 
time.  Passengers  generally  encamp  in  the 
woods,  making  a  covering  of  the  boughs  of 
trees,  and  large  fires  at  their  feet.  But  as 
we  had  a  good  awning  to  our  boat,  and  had 
brought  Avith  us  good  beds,  and  plenty  of  bed 
clothes,  I  chose  to  sleep  on  board." 

Mr.  Carroll  having  thus  given  proof  of  his 
patriotism  by  abandoning  for  a  time  the 
humble  but  useful  performance  of  his  clerical 
duties,  to  devote  himself  to  the  service  of  his 
country,  in  the  way  which  he  deemed  conge- 
nial to  his  obligations  as  a  clergyman,  and 
exposing  himself  to  the  risks  and  hardships 
of  a  long  and  fatiguing  journey,  continued 
by  word  and  example  during  and  after  that 
struggle  which  ended  in  the  glorious  eman- 
cipation of  this  country  from  a  foreign  yoke, 
to  assert  and  inculcate  those  liberal  and  en- 
larged political  principles  which  are  ever  the 
cherished  guides  and  mentors  of  great  and 
good  men.  We  find  him  ever  speaking  in 
warm  and  patriotic  terms  in  his  voluminous 
correspondence  with  his  esteemed  friend  and 


44  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

classmate,  the  Rev.  Charles  Plowden,  and 
which  we  deem  it  well  here  to  introduce. 

"  You  tell  me  that  in  my  last  I  was  afraid 
of  entering  into  politics;  but  that  you  will 
force  me  into  the  subject.  Indeed,  my  dear 
Charles,  I  had  no  such  fears  about  me.  I 
have  the  happiness  to  live  under  a  govern- 
ment very  different  from  that  I  have  been 
just  talking  of  (the  Austrian);  and  I  have 
never  had  any  cause  to  fear  speaking  my 
sentiments  with  the  utmost  freedom.  But 
when  I  was  writing  to  you,  I  had  so  many 
other  subjects  nearer  to  my  heart  to  talk  of, 
that  I  suppose  I  left  them  to  the  public 
papers.  You  have  adopted  the  language  of 
some  of  the  prints  on  your  side  the  water, 
by  representing  us  under  imperious  leaders, 
and  the  trammels  of  France;  but  alas!  our 
imperious  leaders,  by  whom  I  suppose  you 
mean  the  congress,  were  at  all  times  amena- 
ble to  our  popular  assemblies,  elected  by 
them  every  year,  often  turned  out  of  their 
seats,  and  so  little  envied,  that  as  their  ex- 
penses were  often  unavoidably  greater  than 
their  profits,  it  has  at  all  times  been  a  diffi- 
cult matter  to  get  men  disinterested  and 
patriotic  enough  to  accept  the  charge — and 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  45 

as  to  the  trammels  of  France,  we  certainly 
never  have  worn  her  chains,  but  have  treated 
with  her  as  equals,  have  experienced  from 
her  the  greatest  magnanimity  and  modera- 
tion, and  have  repaid  it  with  an  honorable 
fidelity  to  our  engagements.  By  both  of  us 
proceeding  on  these  principles,  the  war  has 
been  brought  to  an  issue,  with  which,  if  you 
are  pleased,  all  is  well,  for  we  are  certainly 
satisfied." 

He  says  in  a  subsequent  letter,  "  If  your 
other  kind  letters  never  came  to  hand,  you 
have  only  to  blame  the  unsleeping  avidity 
of  your  own  cruizers,  whom  I  should  call 
pirates,  were  I  inclined  to  follow  your  exam- 
ple of  abusing  the  political  measures  of  our 
adversaries.  For,  since  the  object  of  the 
war,  on  your  side,  the  right  of  parliamentary 
taxation,  is  now  confessedly,  and  by  every 
moderate  man  on  both  continents,  acknow- 
ledged to  have  been  unjust,  surely  every 
measure  to  attain  that  object  must  likewise 
have  been  unjust;  and  consequently  your 
cruizers  with  all  their  commissions  were  no- 
thing more  than  pirates.  Thus  much  to  re- 
taliate for  your  stroke  at  our  faithless  leaders 


46  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

and  faithless  allies^  after  which  we  will  be 
done  with  politics." 

Speaking  about  the  younger  Chatham,  he 
uses  the  following  strong  and  patriotic  lan- 
guage : — "  I  sincerely  rejoice,  that  the  son  of 
my  favorite,  the  late  Lord  Chatham,  conducts 
himself  with  such  ability  and  integrity.  You 
did  not  expect  so  much,  perhaps,  from  an 
American  ;  and  indeed,  we  should  be  excus- 
able, (if  not  as  Christians,  at  least  politic- 
ally), for  not  bearing  you  much  good  will,  in 
return  for  all  the  lies  and  misrepresentations 
which  many  of  your  soured  and  indignant 
countrymen  are  every  day  coining  about  us. 
You  have  certainly  cramped  our  trade  by 
some  regulations,  not  merely  selfish  but  re- 
vengeful. Your  merchants  will  find,  that 
without  warfare  we  have  immense  resources, 
and  the  means  of  redress  in  our  power ;  as 
soon  as  the  establishment  of  our  new  federal 
government  will  allow  those  means  to  be 
called  forth." 

Mr.  Carroll  hastened  back  from  this  unsuc- 
cessful mission  in  Canada  to  his  mother's 
house,  where  he  had  resided  since  his  return 
to  America,  and  entered  again  upon  the  ac- 
tive exercise  of  the  functions  of  his  ministry. 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  47 

From  this  period  till  some  years  after  the 
termination  of  the  revolutionary  war,  he  was 
principally  employed  in  the  service  of  the  se- 
veral congregations  before  spoken  of,  which 
he  may  be  said  in  a  great  measure  to  have 
formed,  alternately  and  periodically  visiting 
and  instructing  them  in  the  exalted  duties  of 
Christianity,  and  enforcing  the  principles  of 
piety  and  charity,  which  he  taught  and  incul- 
cated, by  his  own  persuasive  example;  and  in 
directing  and  regulating  the  concerns  of  his 
respected  mother's  property, — whilst  he  con- 
tributed, in  an  eminent  degree,  by  his  respect- 
ful and  affectionate  demeanor  towards  her, 
by  his  kindness  and  attention  to  all  others, 
and  bv  the  irresistible  charm  of  his  conver- 
sation,  company,  and  manners,  to  impart  to 
the  family  circle  of  her  house  the  highest 
degrree  of  interest  and  to  secure  to  it  the  full- 
est  share  of  domestic  happiness.  He  availed 
himself  of  all  the  moments  left  from  the 
above  employments,  and  from  the  time  devo- 
ted to  acts  of  private  devotion,  for  which, 
under  all  circumstances,  he  always  set  apart 
a  large  portion,  to  add  to  the  abundant  stock 
of  information  which  he  already  possessed, 
such  as  could  be  derived  from  a  review  of 


48  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF 

ancient  literature,  and  a  close  and  regular 
inspection  of  the  public  journals,  miscellanies 
and  literary  works  of  the  day,  and  to  recipro- 
cate, as  he  always  did,  with  peculiar  grace 
and  kindness,  all  the  offices  of  friendly  and 
liberal  intercourse  with  a  large  and  respect- 
able society. 

He  was  some  years  afterwards  drawn 
into  a  religious  controversy  with  the  Rev. 
Charles  Wharton,  who,  from  being  a  priest 
of  the  Roman  Catliolic  Church,  and  educated 
at  the  same  schools  with  himself,  had  be- 
come a  minister  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Mr.  Wharton  on  that  occasion  having  ad- 
dressed the  Roman  Catholics  of  Worcester, 
in  England,  of  whom  he  had  been  the  chap- 
lain, assigning  the  motives  of  his  recantation, 
and  impugning  the  doctrines  of  the  church 
he  had  abandoned,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Carroll 
WTote  and  published  an  address  to  the  Ro- 
man Catholics  of  the  U.  States  in  answer. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  enter  into  a  critical 
examination  of  the  arguments  on  either  side 
of  this  controversy,  nor  are  we  at  all  quali- 
fied for  the  task;  but  we  are  particularly 
called  upon  by  the  occasion  to  state  the  mo- 
tives inducing,  and  the  circumstances  under 


THE  MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  49 

which  the  address  to  the  Roman  Catholics 
in  the  United  States  was  written  and  pub- 
lished, as  we  shall  do  in  the  author's  own 
words :  and  to  add,  that  high  as  was  his  re- 
putation before,  it  was  greatly  enhanced  by 
that  publication,  not  only  with  the  Roman 
Catholics  of  the  United  States  for  whom  it 
was  specially  written  and  published,  but  with 
liberal  minds  and  enli^rhtened  individuals  of 
other  religious  communities  :  and  that,  as  far 
as  it  was  read  by  such,  it  tended  greatly  to 
remove  strong  and  early  impressions,  and  to 
exhibit  the  religion  of  the  author  in  new  and 
advantageous  lights.  Subjoined  to  these  ex- 
tracts will  be  found  so  much  of  Mr.  Whar- 
ton's reply,  as  was  intended  for  an  answer  to 
the  paragraphs  of  the  address  quoted. 

Extracts  from  pages  4  and  5  of  the  Address 
to  the  Roman  Catholics  of  the  United  States 
of  America. 

"  You  will  not  now  be  at  a  loss  to  account 
for  the  occasion  of  the  present  address.  A 
letter  to  the  Roman  Catholics  of  the  city  of 
Worcester  in  England  has  been  published 
here  by  one  of  their  late  chaplains :  and  had 
all  the  copies  of  it  been  transmitted  to  those 
5 


50  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

for  whom  professedly  it  is  intended,  I  should 
not  dedicate  to  animadversions  on  it,  the  few 
moments  of  leisure  left  me  from  other  em- 
ployments incident  to  my  charge  and  profes- 
sion, especially  with  the  scanty  materials  of 
wliich  I  am  possessed :  for  I  am  destitute  of 
many  sources  of  information,  and  unable  to 
refer  to  authorities  which  I  presume  to  have 
been  collected  on  the  other  side  witli  great 
industry.  By  the  chaplain's  own  account, 
he  has  long  meditated  a  separation  from  us : 
and  during  that  time,  he  had  the  opportuni- 
ties of  resorting  to  the  repositories  of  science 
so  common  and  convenient  in  Europe. 

"  But  the  letter  not  only  being  printed 
here,  but  circulating  widely  through  the 
country,  a  regard  to  your  information  and  the 
tranquillity  of  your  consciences  requires  some 
notice  to  be  taken  of  it :  for  the  ministers  of 
religion  should  always  remember,  that  it  is 
their  duty  as  well  to  enlighten  the  under- 
standing, as  improve  the  morals  of  mankind. 
You  are  the  salt  of  the  earth,  Matt.  v.  13,  said 
Christ  to  his  apostles,  to  preserve  men  from 
the  corruptions  of  vice  and  immorality  :  and 
you  are  the  light  of  the  world,  Matt.  v.  14,  to 
instruct  and  inform  it." 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  51 

Extract  from  pages  113  and  114  of  the  same 
Address. 

"  I  have  now  gone  through  a  task,  painful 
in  every  point  of  view  in  which  I  could  con- 
sider it.  To  write  for  the  public  eye,  on 
any  occasion  whatever,  is  neither  agreeable 
to  my  feelings  or  suited  to  my  leisure  or  op- 
portunities :  that  it  is  likewise  dispropor- 
tioned  to  my  abilities,  my  readers,  I  doubt 
not,  will  soon  discover.  But  if  reduced  to  the 
necessity  of  publishing,  I  would  wish  that  my 
duty  led  me  to  any  species  of  composition, 
rather  than  that  of  religious  controversy. — 
Mankind  have  conceived  such  a  contempt  for 
it,  that  an  author  cannot  entertain  a  hope  of 
enjoying  those  gratifications,  which  in  treat- 
ing other  subjects,  may  support  his  spirits 
and  enliven  his  imagination.  Much  less 
could  I  have  a  prospect  of  these  incitements 
in  the  prosecution  of  my  present  undertak- 
ing. I  could  not  forget  in  the  beginning, 
progress  and  conclusion  of  it,  that  the  habits 
of  thinking,  the  prejudices,  perhaps  even  the 
passions  of  many  of  my  readers,  would  be  set 
against  all  the  arguments  1  could  offer  :  and 
that  the  weaknesses,  the  errors,  the  absur- 


52  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

dities  of  the  writer  would  be  imputed  to  the 
errors  and  absurdity  of  his  religion.  But  of 
all  considerations,  the  most  painful  was,  that 
I  had  to  combat  him,  with  whom  I  had  been 
connected  with  an  intercourse  of  friendship 
and  mutual  good  offices,  and  in  connection 
with  whom  I  hoped  to  have  consummated  my 
course  of  our  common  ministry  in  the  service 
of  virtue  and  religion.  But  when  I  found 
that  he  had  not  only  abandoned  our  faith  and 
communion,  but  had  imputed  to  us  doc- 
trines foreign  to  our  belief,  and  having  a  na- 
tural tendency  to  imbitter  against  us  the 
minds  of  our  fellow-citizens,  I  felt  an  anguish 
too  keen  for  description :  and  perhaps  the 
chaplain  will  experience  a  similar  sentiment 
when  he  comes  coolly  to  reflect  on  this  in- 
stance of  his  conduct.  It  did  not  become  the 
friend  of  toleration  to  misinform,  and  to  sow 
in  minds  so  misinformed  the  seeds  of  religious 
animosity. 

"Under  all  these  distressful  feelings,  one 
consideration  alone  relieved  me  in  writing; 
and  that  was  the  hope  of  vindicating  our  re- 
ligion to  your  own  selves  at  least,  and  pre- 
serving the  steadfastness  of  your  faith.  But 
even  this  prospect  should  not  have  induced 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  53 

me  to  engage  in  the  controversy,  if  I  could 
fear  that  it  would  disturb  the  harmony  now 
subsisting  amongst  all  Christians  in  this 
country,  so  blessed  with  civil  and  religious 
liberty;  which  if  we  have  the  wisdom  and 
temper  to  preserve,  America  may  come  to 
exhibit  a  proof  to  the  world,  that  general 
and  equal  toleration,  by  giving  a  free  circu- 
lation to  fair  argument,  is  the  most  effectual 
method  to  bring  all  denominations  of  Chris- 
tians to  an  unity  of  faith." 

Extract  fj'om  Judges  96  and  97  of  ^^  The  Repli/ 
to  an  Address  to  the  Roman  Catholics  of  the 
United  States  of  AmericaJ^ 

In  the  reply  of  Mr.  Wharton,  the  following 
personal  allusions  to  his  antagonist  are  not 
irrelevant  to  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

"  Before  the  chaplain  takes  a  final  leave  of 
the  public  on  these  matters,  which  he  most 
sincerely  wishes  to  do  at  present,  he  must 
beg  its  attention  for  a  moment  to  the  most 
material  accusation  thrown  out  in  the  ad- 
dress. He  is  accused  of  imputing  doctrines 
to  the  Roman  Catholics  foreign  to  their  be- 
lief and  having  a  natural  tendency  to  imbit- 
ter  against  them  the  minds  of  their  fellow 
5* 


54  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

citizens."  He  is  accused  of  "  misinforming, 
and  of  sowing  in  minds  so  misinformed,  the 
seeds  of  religious  animosity." — (Address  p. 
114.)  "The  Rev.  gentleman  could  not  have 
wounded  his  former  friend  in  a  more  tender 
part.  At  such  an  attack  he  also  felt  an  an- 
guish too  keen  for  description^ — for  such  accu- 
sations coming  from  him,  must  extinguish 
every  spark  of  good  will  towards  the  chap- 
lain which  may  still  be  lurking  among  his 
former  connections.  They  go  to  alienate  the 
esteem  of  his  recent  friends,  by  holding  him 
out  as  a  disturber  of  the  public  peace,  as  an 
enemy  to  his  country. — Did  the  Rev.  gen- 
tleman perceive  the  natural  tendency  of  such 
a  censure,  or  could  he  think  the  chaj^lain  de- 
served it  ?  The  Rev.  gentleman  might  have 
known  him  better.  There  was  a  time  when 
he  honored  him  with  his  confidence  and  es- 
teem, when  he  condescended  to  become  the 
depository  of  his  little  concerns;  at  an  early 
period  of  life,  he  kindly  took  him  by  the  hand, 
and  led  him  through  the  paths  of  iionor  and 
of  virtue ;  his  lessons  were  always  those  of 
friendship  and  of  wisdom  :  from  these  flowed 
that  ^QwUmento^  universal  benevolence  which 
the  chaplain  deems  the  most  precious  he  pos- 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  55 

sesses.  Could  the  Rev.  gentleman  be  igno- 
rant of  the  growth  of  a  plant,  which  he  him- 
self had  nourished  in  the  heart  of  his  friend, 
and  which  he  must  have  observed  to  flourish 
with  a  luxuriancy  nearly  approaching  to  en- 
thusiasm ?  It  was  this  sentiment  that  ban- 
ished every  Avord  from  his  letter  which  could 
wound  the  feelings  of  the  most  delicate  Ro- 
man Catholic  :  this  made  him  distinguish  be- 
tween their  persons  and  opinions,  and  pre- 
vented a  dereliction  of  some  of  the  latter  from 
impairing  the  social  affections  wdiich  he 
cherished  for  the  former.  Far  from  wishing 
to  sow  the  seeds  of  religious  animosity  in  the 
minds  of  his  countrymen,  he  would  make 
every  sacrifice  to  eradicate  them  forever :  far 
from  wishing  to  imbitter  the  minds  of  their  f el- 
loio  citizens  against  the  Roman  Catholics  of 
America,  he  is  proud  to  see  them  elevated  to 
that  equal  respectability,  to  which,  as  zealous 
supporters  of  their  country's  freedom,  and  as 
a  christian  society,  they  are  essentially  en- 
titled :  far  from  harboring  any  religious  ani- 
mosity or  narrowness  of  sentiment,  he  only 
wishes  for  opportunities  to  show  how  much 
he  despises  them :  far  from  abandoning  the 
cause  of  virtue  and  religion,  as  the  Address 


56  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

seems  to  insinuate — (p.  114)  he  means  to 
exert  his  slender  abilities  and  consummate 
the  course  of  his  ministry  in  the  service  of 
both." 

The  Roman  Catholic  clergy  in  the  United 
States  had  been,  heretofore,  under  the  imme- 
diate government  of  an  ecclesiastical  au- 
thority, originally  established  in  England  by 
the  Holy  See,  for  the  management  of  the  con- 
cerns of  the  churcli  in  the  British  provinces 
of  North  America  :  but  from  the  epoch  of  the 
establishment  of  American  Independence, 
they  had  entertained  the  wish  of  being  plac- 
ed under  the  jurisdiction  of  some  individual 
of  their  own  body.  They  had  accordingly 
made  an  application  to  this  effect  to  the 
Pope,  and  had  mianimously  nominated  and 
recommended  the  Rev.  Mr.  Carroll  for  this 
purpose  :  and  in  conformity  with  their  wishes 
he  was  appointed  by  the  Holy  See,  Apostolic 
Vicar  General  over  the  Roman  Catholic 
Churcli  in  the  United  States.  Upon  receiving 
the  appointment,  he  removed  to  the  city  of 
Baltimore. 

The  Roman  Catholic  clergy  w^ere  influ- 
enced, in  the  application  which  they  made  to 
the  Holy  See,  as  well  by  a  regard  to  the  more 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  57 

convenient  organization  and  government  of 
their  church,  as  by  a  desire  to  adapt  the  con- 
dition of  it,  as  nearly  as  might  be,  to  the  new 
political  one  of  the  United  States. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Carroll,  alluding  to  this  step 
on  the  part  of  the  American  clergy,  uses  the 
following  language  in  a  letter  to  his  friend,  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Plowden,  dated  September  26, 1783: 

"  Our  gentlemen  here  continue,  as  when 
I  last  wrote.  We  are  endeavoring  to  estab- 
lish some  regulations  tending  to  perpetuate 
a  succession  of  laborers  in  the  vineyard,  to 
preserve  their  morals,  to  prevent  idleness,  and 
to  secure  an  equitable  and  frugal  administra- 
tion of  our  temporals.  An  immense  field  is 
opened  to  the  zeal  of  apostolic  men.  Uni- 
versal toleration  throughout  this  immense 
country,  and  innumerable  Roman  Catholics 
going  and  ready  to  go  into  the  new  regions 
bordering  on  the  Mississippi,  perhaps  the  finest 
in  the  world,  and  impatiently  clamorous  for 
clergymen  to  attend  them." 

We  deem  it  appropriate,  and  intimately 
connected  with  our  subject,  to  insert  the  fol- 
lowing notice  on  the  establishment  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion  in  this  country,  be- 
ginning with  its  introduction,  and  concluding 


58  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

with  the  epoch  above  referred  to.  This  notice 
is  stated  by  the  Rev.  Charles  Constantine 
Pise,  the  editor  of  the  Metropolitan,  to  have 
been  originally  written  by  Archbishop  Car- 
roll, and  translated  into  the  language  in 
which  he  found  it.  The  article  appeared  in 
the  March  number  of  1830,  and  is  as  follows : 

"  Towards  the  end  of  the  reign  of  James  I. 
king  of  England,  who  died  in  1G25,  the  Ca- 
tholics, oppressed  by  the  penal  laws  of  that 
kingdom,  sought  after  an  asylum  from  the 
persecution  which  they  suffered  at  home. 
Lord  Baltimore,  a  Catholic,  obtained  from  the 
king  a  grant  of  all  those  lands  which  now 
form  the  state  of  Maryland.  This  grant  was 
confirmed  to  him  by  a  charter  issued  in  form 
immediately  after  the  succession  of  Charles 
I,  to  the  throne  of  his  father."* 

By  this  same  charter,  the  king  granted  to 
all  who  should  emigrate  to  the  new  Province, 
the  liberty  of  exercising  their  religion,  and 
the  rights  of  citizens.  A  great  number  of 
Catholics,  and  especially  the  descendants  of 
ancient  families,  quitted  England,  and  settled 

*  By  Charles,  the  name  of  Maryland  was  given  to 
this  new  province,  in  honor  of  his  queen,  Henrietta 
Maria,  daughter  of  Henry  IV. 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  59 

in  America,  towards  the  year  1630  (1634), 
under  the  conduct  of  Lord  Baltimore.  With 
them  came  Father  Andrew  White,  an 
English  Jesuit.  This  band  of  emigrants 
chose  for  their  residence  a  district  of  country 
near  the  junction  of  the  Potomac  and  St. 
Mary's  river :  the  latter  afterwards  gave  its 
name  to  the  first  town  that  was  built  there, 
and  which  continued  to  be  the  capital  of  the 
country,  during  seventy  or  eighty  years. 

"  Father  White  finding  himself  unequal  to 
the  duties  wiiich  pressed  upon  him,  returned 
to  Europe,  in  order  to  procure  missionaries  : 
and  from  the  very  imperfect  memoirs  before 
me,  it  appears,  that  he  brought  over  with 
him  Fathers  Capley,  Harkey,  and  Ferret. 
Their  principal  residence  was  a  place  w^hich 
they  called  St.  Inigo,  a  Spanish  word,  which 
signifies  Ignatius.  They  acquired  there  a 
considerable  tract  of  land,  a  part  of  which  is 
still  in  the  possession  of  the  Jesuits." 

All  historians,  Protestants  as  well  as  Ca- 
tholics, speak  in  favorable  terms  of  the  first 
Catholic  emigrants,  who  faithfully  observed 
the  laws  of  justice,  and  by  their  humane  de- 
portment, gained  the  confidence  of  the  In- 
dians.    Not  an  inch  of  land  did  they  take  by 


60  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

violence  from  the  aboriginal  inhabitants,  but 
they  purchased  a  large  district,  and  honora- 
bly confined  themselves  within  the  limits 
traced  out  in  the  charter,  in  so  much  that 
neither  fraud  nor  bloodshed  disgraced  the 
birth  of  this  rising  colony. 

In  proportion  as  it  increased,  (and  its  pro- 
gress was  rapid),  the  heads  of  the  establish- 
ment advanced  into  the  country,  accompa- 
nied by  some  clergymen,  who,  for  their  sub- 
sistence, and  that  of  their  successors,  made 
several  acquisitions  of  land. 

Towards  the  year  1640,  a  design  was 
formed  to  carry  the  gospel  to  the  Indians  of 
the  neighboring  parts.  In  the  MS.  which 
was  lent  me,  I  find  that  the  provincial  of  the 
Jesuits  wrote  this  year,  to  the  young  men  at 
Liege,  exhorting  tliem  to  consecrate  their  ser- 
vices to  this  difficult  and  perilous  enterprise. 
In  consequence  of  this  invitation,  more  than 
twenty  requested,  in  urgent  language,  to  be 
associated  in  the  new  mission,  but  from  what 
I  can  learn  from  contemporary  documents, 
it  does  not  appear  that  they  ever  crossed  the 
ocean  :  prevented,  in  all  probability,  by  the 
influence  of  the  Protestants,  who  inhabited 
the  district  of  Virginia  :  and  who  saw,  with 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  61 

a  jealous  eye,  the  incomparably  better  un- 
derstanding that  existed  between  the  Catho- 
lics and  the  Indians,  than  between  themselves 
and  the  tribes  around  them.  Add  to  this  the 
troubles  which  arose  the  same  year  (1640) 
in  England,  and  ended  in  the  deposition  and 
decapitation  of  Charles  T.  in  1649.  The  in- 
credible hatred  which  the  dominant  party  of 
that  kingdom  entertained  against  the  Ca- 
tholics, and  the  umbrage  which  was  taken 
by  the  factious,  at  any  interprise  that  could 
further  the  promotion  of  the  Catholic  religion, 
rendered  it  necessary  for  the  emigrants  to 
break  off  all  communications  with  the  In- 
dians, 

As  long  as  Cromwell  was  in  powder,  the 
Catholics  of  Maryland  were  cruelly  harass- 
ed. Lord  Baltimore  was  removed  from  the 
government,  the  Catholics  were  excluded 
from  all  offices  of  trust  which  they  held  be- 
fore, and  the  clergy  were  reduced  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  exercising  their  functions  in  secret 
and  with  the  greatest  circumspection. 

From  this  epoch,  I  cannot   discover  any 

steps  taken  to  diffuse  the  knowledge  of  the 

gospel  among  the  Indians.    Before  the  death 

of  Cromwell,  it  is  probable  that  they  removed 

6 


62  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

into  the  interior  at  a  very  great  distance,  and 
in  Maryland,  there  were  hardly  clergymen 
enough  to  discharge  the  duties  towards  the 
Catholics.  The  power  and  influence  of  the 
Protestants,  supported  by  the  English  govern- 
ment, and  favored  by  the  colonies  that  sur- 
rounded them,  had  greatly  increased :  and 
the  jealousy,  formerly  occasioned  on  the  part 
of  the  Catholics  by  that  correspondence  with 
the  Indians,  was  still  alive. 

After  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  Mary- 
land again  flourished  under  the  genial  gov- 
ernment of  Lord  Baltimore  and  his  represen- 
tatives. Pious  establishments  were  formed, 
and  the  clergymen  were  scattered  through 
the  different  sections  of  the  province.  They 
subsisted  not  on  the  contributions  of  the 
faithful,  but  on  the  products  of  the  lands 
which  they  had  obtained. 

But  after  the  revolution  which  followed  in 
England,  the  Catholics  were  again  deprived 
of  public  offices,  and  of  the  exercise  of  tlieir 
religion,  contrary  to  the  privileges  granted 
in  their  charter.  In  consequence  of  this  in- 
tolerance, Lord  Baltimore  would  again  have 
been  stript  of  his  authority,  had  he  not  un- 
fortunately yielded  to  the  times,  and  con- 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  63 

formed  to  the  Protestant  religion.  From  this 
era,  a  tax  was  levied  on  all  the  colonists  with- 
out distinction,  for  the  support  of  the  minis- 
ters of  the  Anglican  Church.  Many  attempts 
were  made  to  enforce  the  penal  laws :  and  if 
they  w^ere  not  generally  carried  into  execu- 
tion, but  only  in  certain  places,  and  that  too 
by  intervals,  it  was  according  to  all  appear- 
ances, less  through  a  spirit  of  toleration,  than 
through  policy.  The  most  distinguished  fa- 
milies, impatient  of  the  restrictions,  and  in- 
duced by  the  example  of  Lord  Baltimore, 
for.sook  the  Catholic  Church.  By  this  means 
the  Protestant  party  became  strengthened : 
the  seat  of  government  was  transferred  from 
St.  Mary's  to  Annapolis,  where  the  Protest- 
ants were  more  numerous ;  and  the  Catho- 
lics, oppressed  and  persecuted,  were  reduced 
to  poverty  and  contempt. 

Notwithstanding  these  misfortunes,  several 
congregations  existed  in  the  province,  with 
resident  priests ;  and  others,  which  were  oc- 
casionally visited  by  the  missionaries.  But 
they  were  so  removed  and  dispersed,  that  a 
great  number  of  families  could  not  assist  at 
mass,  and  receive  instructions,  but  once  in 
the  month  ;  and  though  pains  were  taken  by 


64  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

the  pious  heads  of  families  to  instruct  their 
children,  it  must  have  been  done  but  imper- 
fectly. Among  the  poor,  many  could  not 
read,  and  those  who  could,  were  without 
books,  to  procure  which  it  was  necessary 
to  send  to  England :  and  the  laws  against 
printers  and  sellers  of  Catholic  books,  w^ere 
extremely  rigorous.  It  is  surprising  that,  not- 
withstanding all  these  difficulties,  there  were 
still  so  many  Catholics  in  IMaryland  who 
were  regular  in  their  habits,  and  at  peace 
with  all  their  neighbors.  The  propriety  of 
their  conduct  was  a  subject  of  edification  to 
all,  and  continued  to  be  so,  until  the  new 
emigrants  from  foreign  parts  introduced  a  li- 
centiousness of  manners,  which  exposed  the 
Catholic  religion  to  the  reproach  of  its  ene- 
mies. 

Near  the  residences  of  the  clergy,  and  on 
the  lands  belonging  to  them,  small  chapels 
were  built,  but  few  elsewhere  :  so  that  it  was 
necessary  to  say  mass  in  private  houses.  The 
people  contributed  nothing  towards  the  ex- 
penses of  the  clergy,  who,  poor  as  they  were, 
had  to  provide  for  their  ow  n  support,  for  the 
decoration,  &c.  of  the  altars,  and  for  their  tra- 
vels from  place  to  place.     They  demanded 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  65 

nothing,  so  long  as  the  produce  of  their  lands 
could  suffice  for  their  maintenance. 

Towards  the  year  1730,  Father  Grayson, 
a  Jesuit  (all  the  clergymen,  it  should  be  re- 
marked, who  labored  in  the  colonies,  were 
Jesuits),  went  from  Maryland  to  Philadel- 
phia, and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Catholic 
religion  in  that  city.  He  resided  there  until 
the  year  1750.  Long  before  his  death,  he 
built  the  chapel  near  the  Presbytery  (St. 
Joseph's)  and  formed  a  numerous  congrega- 
tion, which  has  continued  to  increase  to  the 
present  day. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Father  Harding, 
whose  memory  is  still  in  benediction  in  that 
city,  and  under  whose  auspices,  and  the  un- 
tiring energies  of  whose  zeal,  the  beautiful 
church  of  St.  Mary's  was  erected. 

In  the  year  1741  two  German  Jesuits  were 
sent  to  Pennsylvania,  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
structing the  German  emigrants  who  had  set- 
tled in  that  province.  These  were  Father 
vSchneider,  a  Bavarian,  and  Father  Wapeler, 
a  Hollander — men  full  of  zeal  and  prudence. 
The  former  was  particularly  gifted  with  a 
talent  for  business,  and  possessed,  says  the 
MS.  before  me,  '^  consummate  prudence  and 
6* 


66  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

intrepid  courage."  The  latter,  after  having 
labored  eight  years  in  America,  durhig  which 
he  converted  many,  was  in  consequence  of 
his  bad  health,  constrained  to  return  to  Eu- 
rope. He  was  the  founder  of  the  establish- 
ment now  called  Conewago.  Father  Schnei- 
der formed  several  congregations  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, built  tlic  church  at  (Toshenhoppen,  and 
propagated  the  Catholic  religion  around  that 
country.  Every  month,  he  visited  the  Ger- 
mans who  lived  in  Philadelphia,  until  the 
lime  when  he  judged  it  expedient  to  establish 
a  resident  German  priest  in  that  city.  The 
gentleman  chosen  to  fill  that  post,  was  the 
Reverend  Father  Farmer,  a  distinguished 
and  highly  respected  personage,  who  some 
years  before,  had  arrived  in  America,  and 
been  stationed  at  Lancaster,  where  his  life 
was  truly  apostolical.  It  was  about  the 
year  1760,  that  he  took  possession  of  this  new 
appointment.  "  No  one  can  be  ignorant," 
remarks  my  MS.  "  of  the  labors  which  were 
undergone  by  this  servant  of  God."  His  me- 
mory is  in  veneration  among  all  who  knew 
him,  or  have  heard  of  his  merit.  He  continu- 
ed to  be  a  model  for  all  succeeding  pastors, 
until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1786. 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  67 

In  1776  the  American  independence  was 
declared,  and  a  revolution  effected,  not  only 
in  political  affairs,  but  also  in  those  relating 
to  religion.  For  while  the  thirteen  provinces 
of  North  America  rejected  the  yoke  of  Eng- 
land, they  proclaimed,  at  the  same  time,  free- 
dom of  conscience,  and  the  right  of  worship- 
ping the  Almighty  according  to  the  spirit  of 
the  religion  to  which  each  one  should  belong. 
Before  this  great  event  the  Catholic  faith  had 
penetrated  into  two  provinces  only,  viz. — Ma- 
ryland and  Pennsylvania.  In  all  the  others 
the  laws  against  the  Catholics  were  in  force. 
Any  priest  coming  from  foreign  parts,  was 
subject  to  the  penalty  of  death ;  all  who  pro- 
fessed the  Catholic  faith  were  not  merely  ex- 
cluded from  all  offices  of  government,  but 
could  hardly  be  tolerated  in  a  private  capa- 
city. While  this  state  of  things  continued, 
it  is  not  surprising  that  but  very  few  of  them 
settled  in  those  provinces  :  and  they,  for  the 
most  part,  forsook  their  religion.  Even  in 
Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  as  was  before 
mentioned,  the  Catholics  were  oppressed : 
the  missionaries  were  insufficient  for  the 
wants  of  two  provinces,  and  it  was  next  to 


68  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

impossible  to  disseminate  the  faith  beyond 
their  boundaries. 

By  the  declaration  of  independence,  every 
difficulty  was  removed,  the  Catholics  were 
placed  on  a  level  with  their  fellow-christians, 
and  every  political  disqualification  was  done 
away. 

Several  reasons  are  a.ssi2:ned  in  the  MS. 
lor  the  immediate  adoption  of  the  article  ex- 
tending to  all  the  members  of  the  states,  an 
unqualified  freedom  of  conscience. 

"I.  The  leading  characters  of  the  first  as- 
.sembly  or  congress,  were,  through  principle, 
opposed  to  every  thing  like  vexation  on  the 
score  of  religion  :  and  as  they  were  perfectly 
acquainted  with  the  maxims  of  the  Catho- 
lics, they  saw^  the  injustice  of  persecuting 
them  for  adhering  to  tlieir  doctrines. 

"  II.  The  Catholics  evinced  a  desire,  not  less 
ardent  than  that  of  the  Protestants,  to  ren- 
der the  provinces  independent  of  the  mother 
country:  and  it  was  manifest  that  if  they 
joined  the  common  cause  and  exposed  them- 
selves to  the  common  danger,  they  should  be 
entitled  to  a  participation  in  the  common 
blessinc^s  which  crowned  their  efforts. 

"III.  France  was  negotiating  an  alliance 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL,  69 

with  the  United  Provinces;  and  nothing 
could  have  retarded  the  progress  of  that  al- 
liance more  effectually,  than  the  demonstra- 
tion of  any  ill  will  against  the  religion  which 
France  professed. 

"  IV.  The  aid,  or  at  least  the  neutrality  of 
Canada,  was  judged  necessary  for  the  suc- 
cess of  the  enterprise  of  the  provinces,  and 
by  placing  the  Catholics  on  a  level  with  all 
other  christians,  the  Canadians,  it  was  be- 
lieved, could  not  but  be  favorably  disposed 
towards  the  revolution. 

"  It  was  not  till  after  the  war,  that  the  good 
effects  of  freedom  of  conscience  began  to  de- 
velope  themselves.  The  priests  were  few  in 
number  and  almost  superannuated.  There 
was  but  little  communication  between  the 
Catholics  of  America  and  their  bishop,  the 
vicar  apostolic  of  the  district  of  London,  on 
whose  spiritual  jurisdiction  they  were  depen- 
dent. But  whether  he  did  not  wish  to  have 
any  relation  to  a  people  whom  he  regarded  in 
the  light  of  rebels,  or  whether  it  was  owing, 
says  my  old  MS.,  to  the  natural  apathy  of  his 
disposition,  it  is  certain  that  he  had  hardly 
any  communication  either  with  the  priests  or 
the  laity  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.     An- 


70  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

terior  to  the  declaration  of  independence, 
he  had  appointed  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lewis  his 
vicar;  and  it  was  this  gentleman  who  gov- 
erned the  mission  of  America  during  the 
time  that  the  bisliop  remained  inactive. 

"Shortly  after  the  war,  the  clergy  of  Ma- 
ryland and  of  Pennsylvania,  convinced  of  the 
necessity  of  having  a  superior  on  the  spot,  and 
knowing  too  that  the  United  States  were  op- 
posed to  any  jurisdiction  in  England,  applied 
to  the  Holy  See  to  grant  them  the  privilege 
of  choosing  a  superior  from  their  own  body. 
The  request  was  acceded  to,  and  their  unan- 
imous suffrages  centred  on  the  Rev.  John 
Carroll,  whose  election  was  approved  by  the 
Holy  See,  and  on  whom  ample  power,  even 
that  of  administering  confirmation,  was  im- 
mediately conferred. 

"  The  number  of  Catholics  at  this  period, 
in  Maryland,  amounted  to  about  sixteen 
thousand,  the  greater  part  of  whom  were 
dispersed  through  the  country  and  employed 
in  agriculture.  In  Pennsylvania  there  were 
about  seven  thousand,  and  in  the  other 
states,  as  far  as  it  was  possible  to  ascertain, 
there  were  about  fifteen  hundred.  In  this 
number,  however,  were  not  included  the  Ca- 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  71 

nadians  or  French  or  their  descendants,  who 
inhabited  the  country  to  the  west  of  the 
Ohio,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi. 

"  In  Maryland  the  priests  were  nine  in  num- 
ber, in  Pennsylvania  but  five.  Of  these,  five 
were  worn  out  with  infirmities  and  age,  and 
the  rest  were  advanced  in  years.  None,  ex- 
cept those  in  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia, 
subsisted  on  the  contributions  of  their  flocks." 

A  little  more  than  half  a  century  has 
elapsed  since  the  foregoing  sketch  was 
penned  by  the  father  of  the  Catholic  Church 
in  this  country,  and  what  a  change  has  been 
worked  in  that  short  space  of  time !  How 
salutary,  beautiful  and  encouraging,  has  been 
the  operation  of  that  wise  and  humane  course 
of  policy,  which  our  glorious  revolution  estab- 
lished and  enforced  ! 

Under  the  effect  of  a  pure  and  enlightened 
spirit  of  religious  equality,  knitting  together 
the  social  and  political  bonds  of  this  great 
republic,  guided  by  pious  and  learned  pas- 
tors, and  above  all,  by  the  aid  and  protec- 
tion of  the  Most  High,  that  venerable  and 
divine  religion  whose  banners  are  unfurled 
in  every  region  of  the  globe,  has  steadily  and 
rapidly   advanced    to    its    present    state   of 


72  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

strength  and  prosperity.  Scarce  fifty  years 
ago  we  are  told  that  the  number  of  Roman 
Catholics  in  this  country  was  about  twenty- 
five  thousand,  now  it  amounts  to  one  million 
three  hundred  thousand.  Then  there  were 
but  twenty-four  clergymen,  of  whom  "five 
were  worn  out  with  infirmities  and  age,  and 
the  rest  were  advanced  in  years;"  now  they 
number  four  hundred  and  forty-eight,  em- 
ployed in  the  ministry,  and  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  otherwise  occupied.  And  this  won- 
derful progress  of  religion  is  now  as  active 
as  ever,  and  the  zeal,  virtues,  piety  and  learn- 
ing of  the  clergy  of  the  present  day  in  no 
manner  inferior  or  less  effective  than  those 
of  their  laborious  predecessors. 

We  have  made  the  following  brief  compi- 
lation from  the  Catholic  Almanac,  for  the 
purpose  of  placing  before  our  readers  the 
present  state  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  this  republic. 

The  first  diocesses  established  in  this  coun- 
try, during  the  life  time  of  the  subject  of  our 
sketch,  were  those  of  Baltimore,  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  I5ardstown  and  Boston.  The 
first  was  established  in  1790,  and  after  hav- 
ing been  so  worthily  occupied  by  its  first  in- 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  73 

cumbent,  has  been  successively  and  efficient- 
ly administered  by  Archbishops  Neale,  Mare- 
chal,  Whitfield  and  Eccleston. 

That  of  New  York,  which  comprises  the 
state  of  New  York  and  the  eastern  part  of 
New  Jersey,  was  established  in  1808,  and  its 
present  incumbent  is  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop 
John  Hughes. 

That  of  Philadelphia,  which  includes  the 
states  of  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware,  and 
the  western  portion  of  the  state  of  New  Jer- 
sey, was  created  in  1808,  and  the  present 
bishop  is  the  Right  Rev.  F.  P.  Kenrick. 

The  diocess  of  Bardstown,  embracing  the 
state  of  Kentucky,  was  established  in  1808, 
and  the  see  is  now  occupied  by  the  Right 
Rev.  Bishop  Benedict  J.  Flaget. 

That  of  Boston,  which  embraces  all  the 
New  England  states,  was  established  in 
1808,  and  the  Right  Rev.  Benedict  J.  Fen- 
wick  at  present  occupies  the  see.. 

The  diocesses  established  since  the  death 
of  Archbishop  Carroll,  are  those  of  Cincin- 
nati, Richmond,  Vincennes,  St.  Louis,  New 
Orleans,  Dubuque,  Natchez,  Mobile,  Charles- 
ton and  Nashville. 

The  diocess  of  Cincinnati  was  established 
7 


74  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

in  1821,  and  embraces  the  state  of  Ohio,  and 
its  present  bishop  is  the  Right  Rev.  John  B. 
Purcell. 

That  of  Richmond,  which  embraces  the 
state  of  Virginia,  was  formed  in  the  year 
1820.  The  Most  Rev.  Samuel  Eccleston, 
Archl)ishop  of  Baltimore,  has  the  adminis- 
tration of  it  during  the  vacancy  of  the  see. 
Its  present  occupant  is  the  Right  Rev.  R.  V. 
Whelan. 

That  of  Vincennes,  which  includes  the  state 
of  Indiana,  and  the  eastern  part  of  Illinois, 
w^as  created  in  the  year  1834  by  Pope  Gre- 
gory XVI.  and  the  present  incumbent  is  the 
Right  Rev.  Celestin  De  la  Hailandi^re. 

That  of  St.  Louis,  whicli  embraces  the 
state  and  territory  of  Missouri,  the  state  of 
Arkansas  and  thb  western  moiety  of  Illinois, 
was  formed  in  1826.  Tiie  present  incum- 
bent is  the  Right  Rev^  Bishop  Joseph  Ro- 
sati. 

The  diocess  of  New  Orleans,  which  em- 
braces the  state  of  Louisiana,  was  established 
in  1793,  under  the  French  government,  and 
its  present  occupant  is  the  Right  Rev.  An- 
thony Blanc,  D.  D. 

The  diocess  of  Dubuque  comprises  Iowa; 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  75 

it  was  created  by  Gregory  XVI.  in  1837,  and 
the  Very  Rev.  Mathias  Loras,  vicar  general 
of  Mobile,  appointed  its  first  bishop,  and  in- 
stalled 29th  April,  1839. 

The  diocess  of  Natchez,  which  comprises 
the  state  of  Mississippi,  was  established  bv 
the  same  pope,  28th  July,  1837,  and  the  Right 
Rev.  J.  J.  Chanche  is  the  present  bishop. 

The  diocess  of  Mobile  comprises  the  state 
of  Alabama,  and  the  territory  of  Florida. 
The  Right  Rev.  Michael  Portier  was  ap- 
pointed vicar  apostolic  by  Pius  VII.  in  1825, 
and  was  elevated  to  the  episcopal  chair  in 
1829. 

The  diocess  of  Charleston,  comprising 
North  and  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  was 
established  12th  of  July,  1820.  The  present 
bishop  is  the  Right  Rev.  John  England.* 

The  diocess  of  Nashville,  which  comprises 
the  state  of  Tennessee,  was  created  by  Gre- 
gory XVI.,  and  the  Right  Rev.  Richard  P. 

*  The  pious  and  learned  occupant  of  this  diocess,  de- 
parted this  life  on  the  11th  April,  of  the  present  year, 
regretted  by  his  own  church,  and  a  large  circle  of  ad- 
miring acquaintances  of  all  denominations.  The  pub- 
lic grief  was  testified  at  Charleston,  where  he  closed 
his  distinguished  and  useful  career  on  earth,  in  the 


76  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

Miles,  provincial  of  the  Dominican  order  in 
the  United  States,  was  appointed  to  the  see. 

Having-  introduced  the  foregoing  details  for 
the  purpose  of  presenting  to  our  readers  some 
idea  of  the  extraordinary  progress  of  the 
Koman  Catholic  faith  in  the  United  States, 
we  return  to  the  immediate  subject  of  our 
remarks. 

One  of  the  first  objects  that  engaged  the  at- 
tention of  the  new  vicar  general,  after  he  had 
been  thus  selected  by  his  own  brethren  and 
approved  by  the  head  of  the  Church,  afforded 
a  fair  presage  of  his  future  utility  and  ser- 
vices. Learned  and  enlightened  himself,  he 
was  fully  aware  of  the  value  of  public  in- 
struction and  education  in  its  general  influ- 
ence upon  the  moral  and  religious  character 
of  society.  Actuated  by  this  sentiment,  there- 
fore, and  desirous  of  rendering  a  lasting  ser- 
vice to  the  reliofion  of  which  he  was  so  zeal- 
ous  a  member,  he  suggested  the  idea,  and  in 
conjunction    with   his   respectable  brethren, 

most  imposing  and  honorable  manner.  Long  indeed 
will  the  memory  of  this  great  and  good  prelate  be  pre- 
served in  the  hearts  of  those  who  knew  him,  and  his 
name  be  enrolled  among  the  brightest  ornaments  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  church  in  this  country. 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  77 

succeeded  in  procuring  the  establishment  of  a 
college  at  Georgetown,  on  the  Potomac,  in 
the  year  1791,  which,  though  specially  des- 
tined for  the  youth  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion  in  the  United  States,  should,  never- 
theless, be  opened  to  those  of  other  persua- 
sions, upon  the  principles  set  forth  in  the 
subjoined  extract  from  the  proposals  written 
by  him,  and  used  for  obtaining  subscriptions 
toward  the  purchase  of  the  ground  and  erec- 
tion of  the  necessary  buildings. 

"The  object  of  the  proposed  institution  is," 
says  the  prospectus,  "  to  unite  the  means  of 
communicating  science  with  an  effectual  pro- 
vision for  guarding  and  improving  the  morals 
of  youth.  With  this  view^,  the  seminary  will 
be  superintended  by  those  who,  having  had 
experience  in  similar  institutions,  know  that 
an  undivided  attention  may  be  given  to  the 
cultivation  of  virtue  and  literary  improve- 
ment :  and  that  a  system  of  discipline  may 
be  introduced  and  preserved,  incompatible 
with  indolence  and  inattention  in  the  profes- 
sor, or  with  incorrigible  habits  of  immorality 
in  the  student. 

"  The  benefit  of  this  establishment  should 
be  as  general  as  the  attainment  of  its  object  is 


/?5  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

desirable.  It  will,  therefore,  receive  pupils, 
as  soon  as  they  have  learned  the  first  ele- 
ments of  letters,  and  will  conduct  them 
through  the  several  branches  of  classical 
learninir.  to  that  stasre  of  education,  from 
which  they  may  proceed  with  advantage  to 
the  study  of  the  higher  sciences,  in  the  uni- 
versity of  this,  or  those  of  the  neighboring 
states.  Thus  it  will  be  calculated  for  every 
class  of  citizens, — as  reading,  writing,  arith- 
metic, the  easier  branches  of  the  mathema- 
tics, and  the  grammar  of  our  native  tongue 
will  be  attended  to  no  less  than  the  learned 
languages. 

"  Agreeable  to  the  liberal  principle  of  our 
constitution,  the  seminary  will  be  open  to 
students  of  every  religious  profession.  They, 
who  in  this  respect  differ  from  the  superin- 
tendents of  the  academy,  will  be  at  liberty 
to  frequent  the  places  of  worship  and  instruc- 
tion appointed  by  their  parents  :  but  with 
respect  to  their  moral  conduct,  all  must  be 
subject  to  general  and  uniform  discipline. 

"  In  the  choice  of  situation,  salubrity  of  air, 
convenience  and  communication  and  cheap- 
ness of  living,  have  been  principally  con- 
sulted— and  Georgetown  offers  these  united 
advantages." 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  79 

The  means,  however,  to  meet  the  necessa- 
ry expenses  in  the  execution  of  this  excellent 
plan,  were  almost  entirely  furnished  from  the 
property  of  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  in 
Maryland,  little  or  nothing  being  obtained  by 
private  contribution. 

Before  the  establishment  of  that  college, 
the  Roman  Catholics  of  the  United  States 
were  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  sending  their 
sons  to  such  literary  institutions  and  places 
of  instruction  as  the  country  then  afforded, 
except  such  as  had  the  means  to  send  them 
abroad  ;  and  as  these  were  exclusively  under 
the  patronage  or  superintendence  of  persons 
of  other  denominations,  and  one  of  the  ob- 
jects of  the  endowment  of  some  of  them 
was  expressly  to  keep  down  the  growth  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  the  youth  of 
that  persuasion  were  thus  precluded  from  the 
opportunity  of  being  instructed  in  the  duties 
or  made  acquainted  with  the  principles  of 
their  own  faith,  or  were  exposed  to  the  dan- 
ger of  imbibing  strong  and  early  prejudices 
against  it. 

The  importance  and  primary  necessity  of 
establishing  an  institution  which  might  meet 
the  wants  of  the  Catholic  community,  and 


80  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

save  them  from  the  influence  and  intrigues  of 
the  enemies  of  their  religion,  presented  them- 
selves in  the  strongest  possible  manner  to  the 
mind  of  the  active  vicar  general,  as  is 
evinced  in  the  warm  terms  with  which  he 
alludes  to  the  subject  in  his  valuable  corres- 
pondence with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Plovvden. 

We  fmd  hitn  in  1788,  speaking  about  the 
progress  of  the  buildings  and  his  great  de- 
sire to  procure  good  and  competent  profes- 
sors.— "  I  have  the  happiness  to  inform  you, 
that  our  academy  is  begun,  and  we  have 
some  hopes  of  seeing  it  covered  this  year. 
Do  not  forget  your  promise  of  some  assist- 
ance. But  when  the  academy  is  completed, 
that  is,  the  house,  what  shall  we  do  for  a 
general  director  or  president  of  it 7  Liege 
absorbs  all  those  who  would  be  willing  to 
lend  their  assistance,  and  others  have  prob- 
ably settled  themselves  for  life.  Do  look 
out  for  some  gentleman  of  abilities  and  judg- 
ment, and  inspire  into  him  a  desire  of  ren- 
dering this  eminent  service.  For,  as  for 
masters,  we  can  do  for  a  little  time,  with 
some  to  be  collected  in  the  country,  and  our 
own  institutions  will,  in  time,  supply  them." 

In  February,  1791,  he  says:  "I  trust  in 


MOST  REV,  JOHN  CARROLL.  81 

God,  that  our  Georgetown  academy  will  be 
opened  in  a  few  months.  Congress  having 
resolved  to  make  that  neighborhood,  and  per- 
haps that  town  their  seat,  and  consequently 
the  capital  of  the  United  States,  gives  a 
weight  to  our  establishment  there,  which  I 
little  thought  of,  when  I  recommended  that 
situation  for  the  academy." 

He  writes,  under  date  of  November,  1795, 
always  returning  with  fresh  ardor  to  his  fa- 
vorite subject: — "The  new  building  of  the 
college  is  nearly  completed,  and  a  noble  one 
it  is.  It  presents  a  front  of  154  feet,  and  an 
elevation  of  three  stories  on  one  side,  and  four 
on  the  other,  as  a  slant  of  the  ground  un- 
covers the  offices  upon  that  view.  I  sincerely 
wish  you  had  such  a  building  at  Stonehurst." 

In  a  subsequent  letter,  after  alluding  to  the 
admirable  spirit  of  devotion  which  confined 
the  Catholic  clergy  to  their  posts  during  a 
contagious  disorder  in  Philadelphia,  he  re- 
marks as  follows : — "  Would  to  God,  George- 
town may  ever  emulate  the  excellency  of 
Stonehurst  in  that  respect !  But  till  it  be 
blessed  with  masters  acting  with  one  spirit, 
and  enforcing  by  their  uniform  example,  the 
precepts  of  virtue,  this  cannot  be  expected, 


82  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

however  ardently  desired.  Hired  professors 
have  an  interest  so  different  from  that  of  a 
sacred  attachment  to  the  cause  of  God,  his 
church  and  its  truth,  that  we  must  labor 
with  all  our  might  to  be  able  to  form  a  bet- 
ter system." 

Previous  to  this,  in  1790,  he  entered  more 
at  larsre  in  his  views  in  relation  to  the  acade- 
my,  which  was  then  in  a  state  of  prepara- 
tion. "  I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you  for  your 
generous  intentions  respecting  it.  I  think  w^e 
shall  get  enough  of  it  accomplished  this  sum- 
mer, to  make  a  beginning  of  teaching,  but 
our  great  difficulty  will  be  to  get  a  proper 
president  or  superintendent.  The  fate  of  the 
school  will  depend  much  on  the  first  impres- 
sion made  upon  the  public  ;  and  a  president 
of  known  abilities  and  reputation  will  contri- 
bute greatly  to  render  that  impression  a  very 
favorable  one.  Many  seminaries  of  education 
have  been  raised  in  the  United  States  within 
these  few  years ;  but,  in  general,  they  are  ex- 
ceedingly defective  in  discipline.  A  college 
has  been  lately  opened  at  Annapolis,  under  the 
protection  of  our  state  legislature,  and  amply 
endow^ed  by  them.  It  is  erected  on  princi- 
ples of  perfect  equality  as  to  religion.     The 


o 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  8 


original  agents  appointed  by  act  of  assembly^ 
to  model  and  encourage  it,  were  three  cler- 
gymen and  three  laymen,  one  of  whom  were 
Catholic,  church  of  England,  and  Presbyte- 
rian. I  had  the  honor  of  being  the  former. 
This  matter  was  broached  before  we  formed 
a  plan  of  our  academy  at  Georgetown.  I 
see  at  present  no  other  advantage  to  us  Ca- 
tholics in  the  Annapolis  college,  than  this, 
that  it  may  be  a  place  for  our  young  lads, 
who  have  perfected  their  grammar  education 
at  Georgetown,  to  pursue  the  higher  studies 
of  law,  medicine,  &c.  In  other  respects  it 
will  be  hurtful  to  our  institution." 

Having  quoted  enough  to  show  our  read- 
ers how  deeply  interested  was  the  subject  of 
our  biography,  in  the  establishment  and  wel- 
fare of  his  favorite  creation,  the  prosperity, 
high  and  deserved  reputation  of  which,  for 
the  piety  and  learning  of  its  faculty,  and  sal- 
utary influence  upon  the  moral  and  religious 
education  of  youth,  he  lived  to  witness  and 
enjoy,  we  cannot  do  better  than  conclude  our 
notice  of  this  now  flourishing  and  excellent 
institution,  by  inserting  the  interesting  arti- 
cle, written  for  the  Metropolitan  of  Decern- 


84  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

ber  5th,  1832,  by  its  then  editor,  the  Rev. 
Charles  Constantine  Pise. 

"  GEORGETOWN    COLLEGE. 

"Among  the  literary  institutions  which 
since  the  era  of  the  revolution,  have  been 
founded,  and  have  continued  to  flourish 
with  undiminished  reputation,  the  univer- 
sity commonly  called  "  the  Georgetown  Col- 
lege," stands  eminently  conspicuous.  Few 
nurseries  of  education  have  sent  forth  pupils 
formed  with  nicer  attention,  more  general  in- 
formation, more  elegant  attainments,  and 
above  all,  with  greater  regard  to  moral  and 
religious  principles,  than  the  one  which  con- 
stitutes the  subject  of  these  remarks. 

"  The  system  of  education  pursued  by  the 
faculty  is  not  an  experimental  one,  the  suc- 
cess of  which  time  alone  will  be  able  to  de- 
velope ;  it  is  a  system  which  has  long  since 
been  proved  :  which  has,  for  nearly  three  cen- 
turies, awakened  the  public  attention,  chal- 
lenged the  public  scrutiny,  and  won  the  pub- 
lic approbation.  To  have  an  idea  of  this 
system,  the  reader  must  consult  the  stand- 
ard by  which  it  is  directed,  the  7'atio  dicendi 
et  discendi,  by  Pere  Jouvency. 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  85 

"  Let  it  not,  however,  be  imagined  that  be- 
cause it  is  ancient,  it  is  antiquated;  because  it 
was  adopted  ere  much  of  the  light  which  has 
since  dawned  on  the  literary  world  had  been 
descried,  that  it  is  not  conformable  to  the  age 
and  country  in  which  we  live.  The  substance 
of  education  is  always  the  same,  and  it  will 
not  be  denied  that  our  fathers,  and  their  fa- 
thers, were  as  substantially  taught,  as  we  are 
at  the  present  day.  What  a  catalogue  of 
most  elegant  scholars  and  profoundly  learned 
men  cannot  the  two  preceding  ages,  as  well  as 
the  present,  display  to  the  admiration  of  the 
curious — philosophers,  historians,  linguists, 
poets,  divines, — their  works  live  after  them, 
many  of  them  models  of  style,  and  stamped 
with  erudition. 

"  But  the  system  of  this  university  keeps 
pace  with  the  development  and  spirit  and 
genius  of  our  age  and  country.  It  embraces 
all  modern  literature,  comprises  all  modern  in- 
ventions, and  cherishes  the  principles  of  liber- 
ty and  republicanism.  The  library  which 
contains  twelve  thousand  volumes,  is  open  to 
the  curiosity  of  the  pupils,  and  is  deficient  in 
ery  few  of  the  works  of  modern  writers  that 
are  worth  preserving ;  reviews,  periodicals, 
8 


\ 


86  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OP  THE 

pamphlets,  papers,  and  every  variety  of  mis- 
cellaneous effusions,  selected  with  scrupulous 
caution  by  the  faculty,  are  offered  to  the  pe- 
rusal of  the  students. 

"  The  character  of  their  national  celebra- 
tions, the  institute  of  their  Philodemic  society 
the  spirit  breathed  through  the  speeches  at 
their  commencements,  attest  their  patriotism, 
and  ardent  devotion  to  our  national  institu- 
tions, and  the  care  that  is  taken  to  implant 
in  the  youthful  breast  a  lofty  love  of  inde- 
pendence, and  a  generous  patriotism.  Per- 
haps there  is  not  in  the  country  an  institution, 
where  a  greater  portion  of  republican  feeling 
can  be  discovered,  vvhenev^er  occasion  calls 
it  forth.  Witness,  for  instance,  the  very  ex- 
cellent oration  delivered  last  fourth  of  July 
by  Mr.  Floyd,  son  of  the  governor  of  Virginia. 
Their  essays,  their  speeches,  their  poetry,  are 
pregnant  with  the  vis  divina,  that  fire  of  free- 
dom, and  that  dulcis  amor  patrice,  which 
would  do  honor  to  the  youths  of  Rome  and 
Athens,  in  their  most  flourishing  days. 

"  The  morale  of  the  university  is  preserved 
with  the  most  vigilant  solicitude.  The  na- 
ture of  the  system  precludes  almost  the  pos- 
sibility of  their  pupils  contracting  any  of  those 


MOST  REV,  JOHN  CARROLL.  87 

vicious  habits  which  would  grow  up  with 
them  to  maturity.  The  situation  secluded, 
and  aloof  from  the  bustle  of  the  towm  ;  the 
vigilance  of  the  prefects,  under  whose  eyes 
the  students  are  always  found;  the  attend- 
ance  of  the  professors  when  they  walk  for  ex- 
ercise beyond  the  limits  of  the  enclosure, 
keep  them  not  in  servile  fear,  but  under  a 
necessary  and  decorous  restraint.  In  this 
manner,  they  are  preserved  from  boyhood, 
from  practices  which  are  frequently  the  dis- 
grace of  youth  not  so  strictly  guarded,  and 
the  ruin  of  many  a  great  and  aspiring  mind. 
"  Morality  is  not  the  only  lesson  that  is 
taught.  Religion  is  inculcated.  Foritw^ould 
be  difficult,  almost  impossible,  to  preserve 
the  former,  without  inculcating  the  latter. 
The  tenets  professed  by  the  university  are 
Roman  Catholic.  These  the  faculty  feel 
themselves  bound  to  explain  in  their  cate- 
chistical  instructions  to  all  the  pupils,  no  mat- 
ter of  w^hat  denomination,  for  they  deem  it 
a  part  of  a  general  education  to  know  what 
are  the  rea/ principles  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
and  how^  their  principles  are  misrepresented. 
But  at  the  same  time,  they  bind  themselves 
to  make  no  distinction  between  Catholic  or 


88  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

Protestant — to  instruct  the  former  radically, 
and  to  use  no  improper  influence  to  proselyt- 
ize the  latter.  All  alike  are  required  to  at- 
tend divine  worship,  to  listen  to  moral  dis- 
courses, to  devote  some  time  to  the  study  of 
the  sacred  scriptures,  on  Sundays  and  ecclesi- 
astical festivals  ;  but,  of  course,  only  the  Ca- 
tholic portion  are  required  to  comply  with 
the  jiractical  obligations  of  the  church. 

"  The  institution,  for  its  general  economy 
and  concerns,  is  under  the  direction  of  the 
faculty.  Besides  the  president  and  vice-pre- 
sident, there  is  a  prefect  of  studies,  who  is  al- 
ways a  gentleman  of  general  attainments  and 
great  experience,  whose  office  it  is  to  preside 
over  the  schools — to  arrange  the  different 
classes — to  note  the  talents,  improvement, 
disposition  and  conduct  of  the  students,  while 
at  class ;  to  keep  a  strict  account  of  these 
particulars,  and  report  to  the  president  at 
stated  times.  The  ordinary  prefects  are 
three  in  number.  It  is  their  office  to  watch 
over  their  deportment  during  the  hours  of  re- 
creation, to  give  special  permissions,  to  ex- 
act punishments  when  duty  renders  it  neces- 
sary to  inflict  them,  and  to  accompany  the 
pupils  in  their  walks   and   rambles.     The 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  89 

professors  are  responsible  for  their  pupils 
only  (luring  the  hours  of  their  various  classes. 
This  arrangement  is  admirably  calculated  to 
preserve  strict  order;  it  divides  the  arduous 
responsibility  of  a  university,  specifying  to 
each  member  his  particular  department,  with 
which  no  other  can  conflict, — which  is  dis- 
tinct in  itself,  and  thus  allows  more  time, 
more  opportunity  of  exactness,  and  regular 
discipline,  than  could  be  derived  from  any 
other  mode  of  action. 

"  The  local  advantas^es  of  Georo^etown  col- 
lege  yield  to  none,  it  may  be  said  without 
exaggeration,  in  any  country.  Elevated  and 
sequestered,  though  w  ithin  the  limits  of  the 
town,  it  lifts  its  turrets  high  abov^e  the  forest 
that  surrounds  it,  commanding  a  view  of  the 
Potomac,  on  whose  banks  it  is  situated,  of 
the  bridge  which  stretches  across  the  w^aters, 
of  Mason's  Island,  of  the  Capitol,  President's 
house,  and  the  whole  city  of  Washington. 
These  scenes  constitute  the  front  view.  The 
back  prospect  is  perfectly  rural,  varied  with 
hill  and  dale,  and  deeply  set  with  every  spe- 
cies of  forest  trees.  A  serpentine  walk,  em- 
bowered in  shade,  circulates  around  the  val- 
ley, forming  a  delightful  promenade  during 
8* 


90  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

the  sultry  season,  and  reminding  the  wander- 
ing student  of  the  vale  of  Tempe. 

....  Praerupta  quod  undique  claudit — 
Silva 

"  While  the  stream  gurgling  down  its  sides 

may  be  fancied  to  correspond  to  the  waters 

of  Peneus,  which 

ab  imo 

Effusus  Piudo  spumosis  volvitur  undis. 

"The  main  college,  a  noble  edifice  153  feet  in 
length,  was  erected  in  the  year  1791.  It  is  sup- 
ported by  two  towers,  which  give  an  appear- 
ance of  grandeur  and  solenmity  to  the  whole. 
These  towers  may  be  descried  at  a  very  great 
distance  ;  and  their  view,  especially  from  the 
river,  is  beautiful  and  imposing.  Like  the 
'  distant  spires  and  antique  towers'  of  Eton, 
they  '  crown  the  watery  glade,'  and  as  the 
eye  of  any  of  her  former  pupils  falls  upon 
them,  he  may  exclaim  with  Gay — 

Ah,  happy  hills  I — Ah,  pleasant  shade  ! — 
Ah  fields  beloved  in  vain  ! 

"  The  other  building,  commonly  called  '  the 
old  college,'  claims  a  more  ancient  origin. 
It  was  raised  anno  1789.    Its  dimensions  are 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  91 

sixty-three  by  fifty-one  feet.  Hitherto  the  re- 
fectory and  kitchen  have  been  under  this  roof, 
but  they  are  soon  to  be  removed  to  a  new  and 
magnificent  edifice  which  is  now  erecting, 
and  which  will  be  covered  in  before  winter. 
This  addition  to  the  old  college  is  ninety-five 
feet  in  length,  and  fifty-one  in  breadth,  built 
of  the  best  materials,  in  the  most  substantial 
manner.  There  has  also  been  erected,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  present  enterprising  pre- 
sident, a  new  infirmary,  four  stories  high, 
sixty  feet  in  length  and  fifty-three  in  breadth, 
Through  each  story,  a  wide  and  airy  corridor 
runs  the  whole  length  of  the  building,  and 
the  apartments  are  so  arranged,  that  the  sick 
students  have  each  a  comfortable  room,  with 
excellent  accommodations,  and  are  attended 
with  indefatigable  care  by  the  infirmarians. 

"  This  institution  was  founded  anno  1789. 
Among  her  first  pupils,  she  is  proud  to  ac- 
knowledge the  Hon.  William  Gaston  of  North 
Carolina,  and  Robert  Walsh,  Esq.  of  Phila- 
delphia. 

"  Since  its  foundation,  as  may  be  seen  from 
the  registers  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the 
house,  several  thousands  of  youths  have  been 
educated  within  its  walls ;  and  an  idea  of  the 


92  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

salubrity  of  the  place  will  be  formed  from  the 
fact,  that  up  to  the  present  date,  not  an  indi- 
vidual pupil  has  ever  died  in  it.  It  is  very 
doubtful  whether  the  same  extraordinary  fact 
can  be  asserted  of  any  similar  institution  in 
this  country." 

The  library  of  the  college,  which  w^as  com- 
posed of  twelve  thousand  volumes  in  1832, 
has  been  increased  to  about  tw^enty-four 
thousand,  and  the  new  building  mentioned 
in  the  foregoing  article,  is  now  occupied  as  a 
refectory,  chapel  and  study,  and  exhibition 
room.  The  college  possesses  a  valuable  mu- 
seum, with  a  fuie  collection  of  philosophical 
and  chemical  instruments,  and  a  vineyard  is 
cultivated  on  the  farm,  which  supplies  the 
chapel,  and  those  of  Georgetown  and  Alex- 
andria with  wine  for  the  altar,  and  is  also 
used  by  the  clergy  at  their  own  table.  It  is 
the  intention  of  the  faculty  to  erect  an  ob- 
servatory, which  will  add  much  to  the  use- 
fulness and  reputation  of  the  institution,  and 
under  the  direction  of  its  learned  and  zealous 
professor  will  prove  of  great  and  enduring  ser- 
vice to  the  cause  of  science  in  this  country. 

The  present  president  is  the  Rev.  James 
Ryder,    whose    high   reputation  as   a   cler- 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  93 

gyman,  professor  and  orator,  is  a  source 
of  pride  for  his  own  church  in  this  country, 
and  of  lasting  benefit  to  the  venerable  insti- 
tution which  he  directs. 

We  nnake  the  following  brief  extracts  from 
an  able  address,  delivered  July  26th  of  the 
present  year,  before  the  Philodemic  society, 
by  P.  P.  Morris,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  in 
order  to  add,  if  possible,  to  the  eloquent  de- 
scription which  precedes,  thus  spontaneously 
paid  to  the  merits  of  Georgetown  college,  and 
its  claims  to  public  patronage  and  respect. 

Our  orator  feelingly  exclaims  :  "  The  posi- 
tion of  our  alma  mater  is  not  easily  forgot- 
ten. The  broad  and  sinuous  waters  of  the 
Potomac  flowing  majestically  at  our  feet, 
marking  for  miles  the  boundary  between  the 
forest-crowned  shores  of  Maryland  and  Vir- 
ginia, with  its  picturesque  aqueduct  and  long 
line  of  bridge  on  the  distance,  enlivened  by 
the  various  green  of  Mason's  Island  upon  the 
left,  w^ith  its  rocky  shores  and  ruined  mill 
upon  the  right,  give  a  physiognomical  expres- 
sion to  the  scene,  which  to  be  remembered, 
needs  to  be  but  once  beheld — and  then  those 
delightful  walks,  in  groves  more  truly  aca- 
demic than  any  which  my  eyes  have  else- 


94  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

where  found,  where  the  gurgling  of  fountains 
and  the  melody  of  birds,  conspire  in  the  in- 
tervals of  study  to  soothe  and  refresh  us. 
The  library,  so  truly  the  student's  ow  n,  where 
the  mental  wealth  of  centuries  is  accumula- 
ted, and  where  with  a  little  industry,  the 
burning  lights  of  ages  may  be  concentrated 
to  illumine  the  present,  and  where,  it  gives 
me  special  pleasure  to  say,  the  learned  of  the 
modern  world  are  not  forgotten.  The  dis- 
tinguished authors  upon  the  leading  topics  of 
modern  inquiry,  whether  politics,  morals,  or 
philosophy,  are  ranged  side  by  side  with  the 
writers  of  by-gone  days,  that,  by  enquiry  and 
comparison,  every  opportunity  may  be  afford- 
ed to  the  diligent  student  for  correcting 
prejudice  and  amending  error, 

"  The  cry  of  the  modern  world  is  ihat  of 
Ajax — Let  us  have  light:  and  I  have  pecu- 
liar satisfaction  in  saying,  gentlemen,  that  if 
when  you  come  upon  the  stage  of  life,  you 
find  yourselves  behind  the  age  in  your  ideas, 
it  cannot  be  attributed  to  the  institution 
under  whos^  care  your  mental  training  has 
been  conducted." 

Again:  "  To  you,  my  friends,  these  hurried 
reflections    are,    perhaps,   superfluous.     The 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  95 

learned  and  reverend  gentlemen  with  whom 
the  last  few  years  of  your  lives  have  been 
spent,  experience  and  a  fond  recollection  of 
their  kindness  admonish  me,  must  have  long 
since,  with  a  more  firm  and  skilful  hand  engra- 
ven all  these  matters  upon  the  tablet  of  your 
memories.  The  moral  propriety  of  every 
human  action  was  wont,  if  I  mistake  not,  to  be 
the  theme  of  constant  discussion  within  these 
walls,  and  I  take  pleasure  in  saying  that  the 
cause  of  truth,  of  human  happiness  and  hu- 
man rights,  was  always  ably,  eloquently  and 
ardently,  supported  :  and  I  trust  this  learned 
faculty  will  pardon  me  for  saying,  what  I 
feel  urged  by  the  spirit  of  truth  to  declare, 
that  no  where  have  1  seen  more  ardent  de- 
votion to  American  liberty,  purer  patriotism, 
more  unblemished  virtue,  and  a  more  intelli- 
gent uuderstanding  of  the  rights  of  man,  than 
among  the  followers  of  Ignatius  Loyola." 

This  important  and  absorbing  object  of  the 
attention  of  Mr.  Carroll  being  so  far  effectu- 
ated, he  united  with  his  brethren  in  an  ap- 
plication to  the  general  assembly  of  Mary- 
land for  an  act  to  incorporate  the  trustees  of 
the  college,  and  they  united  with  this  applica- 
tion a  petition  to  incorporate  likewise  the  Ro- 


96  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

man  Catholic  clergy  in  the  state  of  Maryland, 
for  tlie  purpose  of  their  (the  clergy's)  empow- 
ering trustees  of  their  own  choice  in  the  man- 
ner to  hold,  and  to  transmit  to  their  suc- 
cessors, the  real  estates  and  other  property, 
to  a  considerable  amount  in  that  state,  which 
had  from  time  to  time  been  purchased  by 
them,  or  been  given  or  bequeathed  for  the 
use  of  the  church  :  and  which  had  all  along 
been  held  by  the  precarious  tenure  of  tes- 
tamentary titles,  derived  from  the  individuals 
in  whom  the  legal  interest  was  vested  :  and 
through  his  exertions  and  interest,  and  the 
liberality  of  that  legislature,  the  two  acts  of 
incorporation  solicited  were  duly  passed. 

Soon  after  the  present  government  of  the 
United  States  was  put  into  operation,  a  wri- 
ter in  the  Gazette  of  the  United  States,  then 
edited  and  printed  in  New  York,  where  the 
legislature  of  the  Union  was  holding  its  first 
session,  wrote  and  put  forth  a  paper  in  that 
Gazette  of  an  equivocal  character,  but  which 
Mr.  Carroll  thought  might  and  would  be  con- 
strued into  an  insidious  invitation  to  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  national  religion  for  this 
country.  Being  in  sentiment  and  in  prac- 
tice, the  friend  and  advocate  of  a  universal 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  97 

toleration,  or  rather  of  a  perfect  liberty  of 
conscience  in  matters  of  religion,  he  pre- 
pared and  sent  to  the  editor  of  that  Gazette, 
a  conclusive  reply,  under  the  signature  of 
Pacificus,  which  brought  forth  an  explana- 
tory note  from  the  writer  of  the  first  men- 
tioned paper,  in  which  he  altogether  dis- 
clahns  the  design  imputed  to  him. 

This  reply  will  be  deemed,  beyond  doubt, 
by  our  readers,  conclusive  proof  of  the  lib- 
eral spirit  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
and  the  active  and  patriotic  part  taken  by 
its  members  in  the  glorious  struggle  which 
secured  for  us  the  blessings  and  liberty  we 
now  enjoy. 

''To  the  Editor  of  the  Gazette  of  the  U.  S. 

"  Sir  :  Every  friend  to  the  rights  of  con- 
science, equal  liberty,  and  diffusive  happi- 
ness, must  have  felt  pain,  on  seeing  the  at- 
tempt made  by  one  of  your  correspondents, 
in  the  Gazette  of  the  U.  S.,  No.  8,  May  the 
9th,  to  revive  an  odious  system  of  religious 
intolerance.  The  author  may  not  have  been 
fully  sensible  of  the  tendency  of  his  publica- 
tion, because  he  speaks  of  preserving  univer- 
sal toleration.  Perhaps  he  is  one  of  those 
9 


98  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

who  think  it  consistent  with  justice,  to  ex- 
clude certain  citizens  from  the  honors  and 
emoluments  of  society,  merely  on  account 
of  their  religious  opinions,  provided  they  be 
not  restrained  by  racks  and  forfeitures,  from 
the  exercise  of  that  worship  which  their 
consciences  approve.  If  such  be  his  views, 
in  vain  tlicn  have  Americans  associated  into 
one  great  national  union,  under  the  express 
condition  of  not  being  shackled  by  religious 
tests;  and  under  a  firm  persuasion,  that  they 
were  to  retain,  when  associated,  every  natu- 
ral right,  not  expressly  surrendered. 

"Is  it  pretended,  that  they  who  are  the  ob- 
jects of  an  intended  exclusion  from  certain 
offices  of  honor  and  advantage,  have  forfeited 
by  any  act  of  treason  against  the  United 
States,  the  common  rights  of  nature,  or  the 
stipulated  rights  of  the  political  society,  of 
which  they  form  a  part?  This  the  author 
has  not  presumed  to  assert.  Their  blood 
flowed  as  freely  (in  proportion  to  their  num- 
bers) to  cement  the  fabric  of  independence, 
as  that  of  any  of  their  fellow-citizens.  They 
concurred,  with  perhaps  greater  unanimity 
than  any  other  body  of  men,  in  recommend- 
ing and   promoting   that  government,   from 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  99 

whose  influence  America  anticipates  all  the 
blessings  of  justice,  peace,  plenty,  good  order 
and  civil  and  religious  liberty.  What  cha- 
racter shall  we  then  give  to  a  system  of  poli- 
cy, calculated  for  the  express  purpose  of 
divesting  of  rights  legally  acquired,  those 
citizens  who  are  not  only  unoffending,  but 
whose  conduct  has  been  hiorhlv  meritorious? 
"These  observations  refer  to  the  general 
tendency  of  the  publication,  which  I  now 
proceed  to  consider  more  particularly.  Is  it 
true  (as  the  author  states)  that  our  fore- 
fathers abandoned  their  native  homes,  re- 
nounced its  honors  and  comforts,  and  buried 
themselves  in  the  immense  forests  of  this  new 
world,  for  the  sake  of  that  religion  which 
he  recommends  as  preferable  to  any  other? 
Was  not  the  religion  which  the  emigrants  to 
the  four  southern  states  brought  with  them 
to  America,  the  pre-eminent  and  favored  re- 
ligion of  the  country  which  they  left?  Did 
the  Roman  Catholics  who  first  came  to  Ma- 
ryland, leave  their  native  soil  for  the  sake  of 
preserving  the  Protestant  Church  ?  Was 
this  the  motive  of  the  peaceable  (Quakers  in 
the  settlement  of  Pennsylvania?  Did  the 
first  inhabitants  of  the  Jerseys  and    New 


100  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

York  quit  Europe  for  fear  of  being  com- 
pelled to  renounce  their  Protestant  tenets  ? 
Can  it  be  even  truly  affirmed  that  this  mo- 
tive operated  on  all,  or  a  majority  of  those 
who  began  to  settle  and  improve  the  four 
eastern  states?  Or  even  if  they  really  were 
influenced  by  a  desire  of  preserving  their  re- 
ligion, what  will  ensue  from  the  fact,  ut 
that  one  denomination  of  Protestants  sought 
a  retreat  from  the  prosecution  of  another? 
Will  history  justify  the  assertion  that  they 
left  their  native  homes  for  the  sake  of  the 
Protestant  religion,  understanding  it  in  a 
comprehensive  sense  as  distinguished  from 
every  other? 

"  This  leading  fact  being  so  much  misstat- 
ed, no  wonder  that  the  author  should  go  on 
bewildering  himself  more  and  more.  He  as- 
serts that  the  religion  which  he  recommends 
laid  the  foundations  of  this  great  and  new 
empire,  and  therefore  contends  that  it  is 
entitled  to  pre-eminence  and  distinguished 
favor.  Might  I  not  say  with  equal  truth, 
that  the  religion  which  he  recommends  ex- 
erted her  powers  to  crush  this  empire  in  its 
birth,  and  is  still  laboring  to  prevent  its 
growth  ?    For,  can  we  so  soon  forget,  or  now 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  101 

help  seeing,  that  the  bitterest  enemies  of  our 
national  prosperity  profess  the  same  reli- 
gion which  prevails  generally  in  the  United 
States?  What  inference  will  a  philosophic 
mind  draw  from  this  view,  but  that  religion 
is  out  of  the  question — that  it  is  ridiculous  to 
say,  the  Protestant  religion  is  the  important 
bulwark  of  our  constitution — that  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  American  empire  was  not 
the  work  of  this  or  that  religion,  but  arose 
from  a  generous  exertion  of  all  her  citizens, 
to  redress  their  wrongs,  to  assert  their  rights, 
and  lay  its  foundations  on  the  soundest  prin- 
ciples of  justice  and  equal  liberty? 

"When  he  ascribed  so  many  valuable  effects 
to  his  cherished  religion,  as  that  she  was  the 
nurse  of  arts  and  sciences,  could  he  not  re- 
flect, that  Homer  and  Virgil,  Demosthenes 
and  Cicero,  Thucydides,  Livy,  Phidias  and 
Apelles,  flourished  long  before  this  nurse  of 
arts  and  sciences  had  an  existence  ?  Was 
he  so  inconsiderate,  as  not  to  attend  to  the 
consequences,  favorable  to  polytheism,  which 
flow  from  this  reasoning,  or  did  he  forget,  that 
the  emperor  Julian,  that  subtle  and  inveter- 
ate enemy  of  Christianity,  applied  this  very 
same  argument  to  the  defence  of  heathenish 

Q* 


102  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

superstition?  The  recollection  of  that  cir- 
cumstance may  induce  him  to  suspect  the 
weight  of  his  observation,  and  perhaps  to 
doubt  the  fact,  which  he  assumed  for  its  basis. 

"  But  he  tells  us  that  Britain  'owes  to  her 
religion  her  present  distinguished  greatness,' 
a  gentle  invitation  to  America  to  pursue  the 
same  political  maxims,  in  heaping  exclusive 
favors  on  one  and  depressing  all  other  religions! 

"But  does  Britain  indeed  owe  the  perfec- 
tion and  extent  of  her  manufactures  and  the 
enormous  wealth  of  many  individuals,  to  the 
cause  assigned  by  this  writer  ?  Can  he  so 
soon  put  it  out  of  his  mind,  that  the  patient 
industry  so  natural  to  English  artificers,  and 
the  long  monopoly  of  our  trade,  and  that  of 
their  dependencies  by  increasing  the  demand, 
and  a  competition  among  her  artizans,  con- 
tributed principally  to  the  perfection  of  the 
manufactures  of  Britain,  and  the  plunder  of 
Indian  provinces  poured  into  her  lap  im- 
mense fortunes,  which  murder  and  rapacity 
accumulated  in  those  fertile  climes?  God 
forbid  that  religion  should  be  instrumental  in 
raising  such  greatness ! 

"When  the  author  proceeds  to  say  that  the 
clergy  of  that  religion,  which  operated  such 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  103 

wonders  in  Britain,  'boldly  and  zealously 
stepped  forth,  and  bravely  stood  our  distin- 
guished sentinels,  to  bring  about  the  late  glo- 
rious revolution,'  I  am  almost  determined  to 
follow  him  no  further :  he  is  leading  me  on 
too  tender  ground,  on  which  I  choose  not  to 
venture.  The  clergy  of  that  religion  behaved, 
I  believe,  as  any  other  clergy  would  have 
done  in  similar  circumstances ;  but  the  voice 
of  America  will  not  contradict  iiie,  when  I 
assert,  that  they  discovered  no  greater  zeal 
for  the  revolution,  than  the  ministry  of  any 
other  denomination  whatever. 

"When  men  comprehend  not,  or  refuse  to 
admit,  the  luminous  principles  on  which  the 
rights  of  conscience  and  liberty  of  religion  de- 
pend, they  are  industrious  to  find  out  pretences 
for  intolerance.  If  they  cannot  discover 
them  in  the  actions,  they  strain  to  cull  them 
out  of  the  tenets  of  the  religion,  which  they 
wish  to  exclude  from  a  free  participation  of 
equal  rights.  Thus  this  writer  attributes  to 
his  religion  the  merit  of  being  most  favorable 
to  freedom  ;  and  affirms  that  not  only  moral- 
ity, but  liberty  likewise,  must  expire,  if  his 
clergy  should  ever  be  contemned  or  neglect- 
ed, all  which  conveys  a  refined  insinuation 


104  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

that  liberty  cannot  consist  with,  or  be  cher- 
ished by  any  other  religious  institution,  which 
therefore,  he  would  give  to  understand  it  is 
not  safe  to  countenance  in  a  free  government. 
"I  am  anxious  to  guard  against  the  impres- 
sion, intended  by  such  insinuations ;  not  mere- 
ly for  the  sake  of  any  one  profession,  but  from 
an  earnest  regard  to  preserve  inviolate  for- 
ever, in  our  new  empire,  the  great  principle 
of  religious  freedom.  The  constitutions  of 
some  of  the  states,  continue  still  to  entrench 
on  the  sacred  rights  of  conscience;  and  men, 
who  have  bled,  and  opened  their  purses  as 
freely,  in  the  cause  of  liberty  and  independ- 
ence, as  any  other  citizens,  are  most  un- 
justly excluded  from  the  advantages,  which 
they  contributed  to  establish.  But  if  bigotry 
and  narrow  prejudices  have  hitherto  pre- 
vented the  cure  of  these  evils,  be  it  the  duty 
of  every  lover  of  peace  and  justice  to  extend 
them  no  further.  Let  the  author,  who  has 
opened  this  field  for  discussion,  beware  of 
slily  imputing  to  any  set  of  men,  principles 
or  consequences  which  they  disavow.  He 
perhaps  may  meet  with  retaliation.  He  may 
be  told  of,  and  referred  to  Lord  Littleton,  as 
zealous  a  Protestant  as  any  man  of  his  days, 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  105 

for  information,  that  the  principles  of  non-re- 
sistance seemed  the  principles  of  that  religion, 
which  (we  are  now  told)  is  most  favorable 
to  freedom,  and  that  its  opponents  had  gone 
too  far  in  the  other  extreme.* 

"He  may  be  told  farther,  that  a  Rev.  pre- 
late of  Ireland,  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  has 
lately  attempted  to  prove  that  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  is  best  fitted  to  unite  with 
the  civil  constitution  of  a  mixed  monarchy, 
while  Presbvterianism  is  onlv  congenial  to 
republicanism.  Must  America  then,  yield- 
ing to  these  fanciful  systems,  confine  her  dis- 
tinguishing favors  to  the  followers  of  Calvin, 
and  keep  a  jealous  eye  on  all  others.  Ought 
she  not  rather  to  treat  with  contempt  these 
idle  and  (generally  speaking)  interested  spe- 
culations, refuted  by  reason,  history  and 
daily  experience ;  and  rest  the  preservation 
of  their  liberties,  and  her  government,  on  the 
attachment  of  mankind  to  their  political 
happiness,  to  the  security  of  their  persons, 
and  their  property  which  is  independent  of 
religious  doctrines  and  not  restrained  by  any? 

''June  10,  1789.  Pacificus." 

\From,  Amer.  Museum,  Philad. 
*  See  Dialogue  of  the  Dead. — First  Dialogue. 


106  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

It  was  discovered  now  from  the  increased 
numbers  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  that  it 
would  greatly  promote  the  regular  and  more 
convenient  discipline  of  their  church,  if  the 
United  States  were  formed  into  a  separate 
diocess,  and  a  bishop  appointed  over  it.  An 
application  to  this  effect  was  accordingly 
made  to  the  Holy  See  by  his  reverend  breth- 
ren, recommending  and  soliciting  this  mea- 
sure, and  as  they  done  on  a  former  occasion, 
respectfully  presenting  his  name. 

The  Pope,  to  whom  the  virtues  and  cha- 
racter of  the  Rev.  Doctor  Carroll*  were 
well  known,  by  the  intimate  and  close  con- 
nexion which  had  subsisted  between  him 
and  the  Holy  See,  in  his  administration  of 
the  Catholic  Church  of  the  United  States 
as  apostolic  vicar  general,  and  by  the  distin- 
guished reputation  which  his  talents  and  ser- 
vices had  procured  for  him  at  Rome,  formed 
the  United  States  into  a  separate  diocess,  as 
was  desired,  and  readily  confirmed  the  nomi- 
nation which  had  been  made  to  him. 

*  He  had  been  made  Doctor  of  Laws  by  the  Uni- 
versity of  St.  John's  of  Annapolis,  in  Maryland,  and 
afterwards  received  the  same  degree  and  that  of  D.D. 
from  other  universities  in  the  United  States. 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  107 

In  the  valuable  correspondence  with  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Plowden,  from  which  we  have  so 
often  quoted,  Dr.  Carroll,  in  1789,  alludes  to 
the  negotiations  which  had  been  opened  with 
the  Holy  See  in  relation  to  the  appointment  of 
a  bishop,  in  the  following  terms : — "I  received 
only  about  the  middle  of  last  month,  Cardi- 
nal Antonelli's  letter,  dated  in  July  last,  by 
which  he  informs  me,  that  his  holiness  has 
granted  our  request  for  an  ordinary  bishop, 
the  see  to  be  fixed  by  ourselves,  and  the 
choice  to  be  made  by  the  officiating  clergy- 
men. The  matter  will  be  gone  on  imme- 
diately, and  God,  I  trust,  will  direct  to  a 
good  choice.  This  confidence  is  my  com- 
fort ;  otherwise  I  should  be  full  of  apprehen- 
sions of  the  choice  falling  where  it  would  be 
fatal  indeed." 

In  May  of  the  same  year,  informing  his 
correspondent  of  the  issue  of  the  election 
which  placed  him  in  the  responsible  post  of 
the  first  American  Roman  Catholic  bishop, 
he  deplores  in  the  most  humble  and  Chris- 
tian manner  this  (for  him)  unexpected  result, 
and  expresses  the  fears  which  he  enter- 
tained of  his  want  of  abilities  to  give  satis- 
faction.    In  reading  these,  and  other  senti- 


108  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

ments  so  feelingly  and  eloquently  poured 
forth  by  our  meek  and  pious  clergyman,  we 
are  forcibly  impressed  with  a  conviction  of 
their  sincerity,  and  VA'itli  a  feeling  of  the  most 
exalted  respect  and  admiration  towards  the 
writer. 

He  writes  as  follows: — "Communicating 
freely  with  you  as  I  do,  you  would  not  for- 
give me,  were  I  to  omit  informing  you,  that 
a  grant  had  been  made  to  all  our  oHiciating 
clergy  to  choose  one  of  their  body,  as  bishop ; 
and  it  is  left  to  our  determination  whether 
he  shall  be  an  ordinary,  taking  his  title  from 
some  town  of  our  appointment,  or  a  titular 
bishop,  by  which  I  understand,  a  bishop  con- 
stituted over  a  country  without  the  designa- 
tion of  any  particular  see,  (vide  Thomassin 
de  la  discipline  de  1'  Eglise).  Our  brethren 
chose  to  have  an  ordinary  bishop,  and  named 
Baltimore  to  be  the  bishop's  title,  this  being 
the  principal  town  of  Maryland,  and  that 
state  being  the  oldest  and  still  the  most  nu- 
merous residence  of  our  religion  in  America. 
So  far  all  was  right.  We  then  proceeded  to 
the  election ;  the  event  of  which  was  such 
as  deprives  me  of  all  expectation  of  rest  or 
pleasure  henceforward,  and  fills  me  with  ter- 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  109 

ror,  with  respect  to  eternity.  I  am  so  stunned 
with  the  issue  of  this  business,  that  I  truly 
hate  the  hearing  or  mention  of  it;  and  there- 
fore will  say  only,  that  since  my  brethren, 
whom  in  this  case  I  consider  as  the  inter- 
preters of  the  Divine  will,  say  I  must  obey,  I 
will  even  do  it,  if  by  obeying  I  shall  sacrifice 
henceforth  every  moment  of  peace  and  satis- 
faction. I  most  earnestly  commend  myself 
to  your  prayers  and  those  of  my  other  friends." 
Continuing  in  the  same  strain  of  touching 
piety,  spiritual  fear  and  christian  resignation 
to  the  will  of  God,  and  obedience  to  clerical 
authority,  he  adds  in  subsequent  letters :  "  If 
I  could  persuade  myself,  dear  sir,  to  follow^ 
your  example,  in  refusing  peremptorily  to 
submit  to  the  choice  of  my  brethren,  I  have 
much  reason  to  think  it  would  be  better  for 
our  holy  religion,  and  certainly  to  my  greater 
ease  of  mind ;  but  having  previously  used  all 
my  sincere  endeavors  to  divert  them  from 
such  a  choice,  I  cannot  but  acquiesce  in  it, 
as  it  was  unanimous,  excepting  one  vote. 
At  the  same  time,  my  own  knowledge  of 
myself  informs  me  better  than  a  thousand 
voices  to  the  contrary,  that  I  am  entirely 
unfit  for  a  station,  in  which  I  can  have  no 
10 


110  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

hopes  of  rendering  service,  but  through  His 
help  and  continual  direction,  who  has  called 
me  to  it,  when  I  was  doing  all  in  my  power 
to  prevent  it. 

"  The  interest  you  take  in  a  late  event, 
proves  the  warmth  of  your  friendship;  but 
it  proves  likewise,  how  blind  and  partial 
friends  are  liable  to  be.  Your  condolence 
would  have  suited  better  the  situation  of  my 
mind;  every  day  furnishes  me  with  new  re- 
flections, and  almost  every  day  produces  new 
events,  to  alarm  my  conscience,  and  excite 
fresh  solicitude  at  the  prospect  before  me." 

It  is  a  subject  of  grateful  pride  and  satis- 
faction on  the  part  of  the  Roman  Catholics 
in  this  country,  and  the  friends  of  the  church 
elsewhere,  to  have  it  in  their  power  now  to 
assert  in  the  most  emphatic  terms,  that  the 
apprehensions  of  the  newly  appointed  bishop 
were  without  foundation.  By  the  helffand 
grace  of  that  God  to  whose  service  he  so 
zealou-sly  devoted  himself,  and  with  the  aid 
of  a  sound  judgment,  real  piety,  and  pre-emi- 
nent talents,  the  administration  of  his  dio- 
cess  was  in  all  respects  such  as  to  justify  the 
choice  of  his  brethren,  and  to  be  pleasing  in 
the  eyes  of  God  and  man. 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  Ill 

Dr.  Carroll  having  thus  been  appointed 
bishop  over  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in 
this  diocess,  his  episcopal  see  was  established 
in  Baltimore,  and  he  assumed,  with  the  ap- 
probation and  by  the  authority  from  which 
he  received  the  appointment,  the  title  of 
"Bishop  of  Baltimore." 

He  lost  no  time,  upon  receiving  the  proper 
evidence  of  his  appointment,  in  taking  the 
necessary  steps  for  his  consecration,  in  com- 
pliance with  the  united  wishes  of  his  breth- 
ren, and  from  a  respectful  deference  to  the 
high  authority  from  which  he  derived  it. 
Under  all  the  circumstances  which  presented 
themselves,  he  determined  upon  going  to 
England  for  this  purpose,  and  accordingly 
went  thither  in  1790. 

Having:  received  an  invitation  from  Thos. 
Weld,  Esq.,  an  old  friend  of  his,  to  be  con- 
secrated at  his  residence,  he  writes  thus  to 
his  correspondent  in  February,  1790,  still 
clinging  to  the  hope,  that  his  nomination 
would  not  be  confirmed  at  Rome:  "I  cannot 
sufficiently  acknowledge  the  most  obliging 
and  honorable  testimony  of  Mr.  Weld's  re- 
gard: you  will  be  pleased  to  express,  with  all 
that  warmth,  which  you  can  communicate  to 


112  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

your  expressions,  my  deep  sense  of  his  gener- 
ous politeness.  My  inclination  certainly  leads 
me  to  accept  of  an  offer  not  only  so  flattering, 
but  which  will  afford  me  an  opportunity  of 
seeing  some  of  those  friends  whom  I  shall 
ever  honor  and  love.  But  I  cannot  yet  de- 
termine what  I  shall  do.  I  still  flatter  my- 
self that  Divine  Providence  will  provide 
some  worthier  subject  to  be  its  instrument  in 
founding  a  church  in  America." 

The  confirmation  of  the  holy  see,  of  the 
choice  made  by  the  American  clergy,  having 
decided  him  as  to  the  course  duty  compelled 
to  adopt,  the  Bishop  elect,  hastened  his  de- 
parture for  England,  and  sailed  early  in  the 
summer  of  1790. 

It  w^as  no  less  gratifying  to  those  of  his 
early  friends  in  England,  who  still  survived, 
than  it  was  to  him  again  to  meet,  after  so 
long  a  separation.  He  did  not  suffer  the 
claims  of  friendship,  however,  to  interrupt  or 
retard  the  purpose  of  his  visiting  that  coun- 
try. Having  made  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments, he  was  accordingly  consecrated  in  the 
chapel  of  Lulworth  castle,  the  seat  of  Mr. 
Weld,  the  I5th  of  August  of  the  same  year, 
by  bishop  Walmsley,  upon  which  interesting 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  113 

occasion,  an  appropriate  discourse  was  pro- 
nounced by  his  old  friend,  Fatlier  Charles 
Plowden,  a  distinguished  member  of  the  so- 
ciety of  Jesus. 

This  discourse,  with  a  brief  account  of  the 
ceremony,  we  present  to  our  readers. 

This  "  account  of  the  establishment  of  the 
new  see  of  Baltimore,"  after  giving  some  hasty 
details  on  the  subject  of  the  introduction  of 
Catholicity  into  Maryland,  lauding  the  spirit 
of  religious  equality  which  existed  in  the  Uni- 
ted States,  and  mentioning  the  fact  of  the  ele- 
vation to  the  episcopacy  of  Dr.  Carroll,  goes 
on  to  remark,  "upon  the  receipt  of  his  bulls 
from  Rome,  he  immediately  repaired  to  Eng- 
land, where  his  person  and  merits  were  well 
known  ;  and  presented  himself  for  consecra- 
tion to  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Walms- 
ley,  bishop  of  Rama,  senior  vicar  apostolic  of 
the  Catholic  religion  in  this  kingdom.  }5y 
invitation  of  Thomas  Weld,  Esq.,  the  conse- 
cration of  the  new  bishop  was  performed 
during  a  solemn  high  mass,  in  the  elegant 
chapel  at  Lulvvorth  castle,  on  Sunday  the 
15th  day  of  August,  1790,  being  the  feast  of 
the  Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  ; 
and  the  munificence  of  that  gentleman  omit- 


10 


* 


114  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

ted  no  circumstance,  which  could  possibly 
add  dignity  to  so  venerable  a  ceremony. 
The  two  prelates  were  attended  by  their  re- 
spective assistant  priest  and  acolytes,  accord- 
inir  to  the  rubric  of  the  Roman  pontifical. 
The  richness  of  their  vestments,  the  music  of 
the  choir,  the  multitude  of  the  wax  lights, 
and  the  ornaments  of  the  altar,  concurred  to 
increase  the  splendor  of  the  solemnity,  which 
made  a  lasting  impression  upon  every  be- 
iiolder.  When  the  whole  company  was 
seated,  the  following  short  address  was  deli- 
vered to  the  congregation,  by  one  of  the 
assistant  priests: 

"  'Our  blessed  Lord  and  Redeemer,  having 
defeated  the  powers  of  hell,  by  the  triumph 
of  the  cross,  formed  to  himself  a  kingdom  of 
earth,  which  was  to  consist  of  the  chosen  of 
every  nation  ;  because  all  nations  were  now 
become  his  own,  by  right  of  conquest.  The 
sun  of  justice,  which  rose  from  the  east,  has 
in  its  progress  enlightened  every  region  of 
the  globe;  and  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  the 
church,  under  the  government  of  his  vicar 
and  of  pastors  deputed  by  him,  has  succes- 
sively embraced  the  whole  world.  Ages  suc- 
ceed ages ;  empires  subvert  empires ;  but  the 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  115 

empire  of  Jesus  Christ  perseveres  ever  one 
and  the  same  ;  ever  persecuted  and  ever  con- 
quering ;  because  all  human  revolutions  are 
entirely  subservient  to  it ;  and  the  formation 
of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is  the  ultimate  ob- 
ject of  the  whole  dispensation  of  Providence, 
in  the  government  of  this  world.  Never,  per- 
haps, was  this  truth  more  sensibly  evinced, 
than  in  the  late  violent  convulsions,  by  which 
the  hand  of  the  Almighty  has  dismembered 
the  great  British  empire,  and  has  called  forth 
into  existence  a  new  empire  in  the  western 
world,  the  destinies  of  which,  we  trust,  are 
founded  in  his  tenderest  mercies.  For  al- 
though this  great  event  may  appear  to  us  to 
have  been  the  work,  the  sport  of  human  pas- 
sions, yet  the  earliest  and  most  precious  fruit 
of  it  has  been  the  extension  of  the  kingdom  of 
Christ,  the  propagation  of  the  Catholic  reli- 
gion, which,  heretofore  fettered  by  restrain- 
inof  laws,  is  now  enlarsred  from  bondafje,  and 
is  left  at  liberty  to  exert  the  full  energy  of 
divine  truth.  Already  is  Catholicity  ex- 
tended to  the  utmost  boundaries  of  the  im- 
mense continent  of  America.  Thousands  are 
there  earnestly  demanding  Catholic  instruc- 
tors.    And  all,  penetrated  with  reverence  for 


116  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

the  apostolical  see  of  St.  Peter,  have  concur- 
red to  demand  from  his  successor,  a  Catholic 
prelate,  whose  knowledge  and  whose  zeal 
may  establish  the  faith  of  Peter  in  those  ex- 
tensive countries. 

"It  is  to  be  observed,  that  if  Britain  infected 
them  with  error,  we  have  the  consolation  to 
know,  that  their  Catholicity  is  also  derived 
immediately  from  us ;  and  as  we,  in  former 
ajres,  received  the  faith  of  Rome  from  the 
great  St.  Gregory  and  our  apostle  St.  Austin : 
so  now,  at  an  interval  of  twelve  hundred 
years,  our  venerable  prelate,  the  heir  of  the 
virtues  and  labors  of  our  apostle,  will,  this 
day,  by  commission  from  the  successor  of  St. 
Gregory,  consecrate  the  tirst  father  and  bishop 
of  the  new  church,  destined,  as  we  confide, 
to  inherit  those  benedictions  which  the  first 
called  have  ungratefully  rejected.  Glorious 
is  this  day,  my  brethren,  for  the  church  of 
(iod,  which  sees  new  nations  crowding  into 
her  bosom  :  glorious  for  the  prelate  elect,  who 
goes  forth  to  conquer  these  nations  for  Jesus 
Christ,  not  by  the  eflforts  of  human  power, 
but  in  the  might  with  those  weapons  which 
have  ever  triumphed  in  this  divine  warfare. 
He  is  not  armed  with  the  strength  of  this 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  117 

world ;  but  he  is  powerful  in  piety,  powerful 
in  zeal,  powerful  in  evangelical  poverty,  and 
firm  reliance  on  the  protection  of  that  God 
who  sends  him.  Glorious  is  this  event,  for 
his  numerous  spiritual  children,  to  whom  his 
virtues  have  long  endeared  him  :  comforting 
it  is  to  us  who  have  been  long  connected  with 
him  by  the  virtuous  ties  of  education,  profes- 
sion and  friendship ;  but  in  a  special  manner, 
my  brethren,  honorable  and  comforting  is 
this  awful  solemnity  to  his  and  our  common 
benefactor,  the  founder  of  this  holy  sanctuary, 
which  shall  be  revered  through  succeeding 
ages,  even  by  churches  yet  unnamed,  as  the 
privileged,  the  happy  spot  from  whence  their 
episcopacy  and  hierarchy  took  their  immedi- 
ate rise,  and  this  precious  distinction  will  be 
justly  attributed  to  the  protection  and  favor 
of  the  glorious  mother  of  God,  whose  house 
it  is,*  and  through  whose  patronage  all  chris- 
tian churches  are  founded.  On  this  her  great- 
est solemnity,  my  brethren,  it  is  your  duty 
to  implore  the  particular  assistance  of  the 
great  queen  of  heaven  ;  and  while  you  are 
edified  by  the  solemn  rites,  with  which  the 

*  It  is  dedicated  to  the  B.  V.  Mary. 


118  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

Catholic  church  consecrates  her  prelates,  you 
will  earnestly  solicit  the  descent  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  on  the  bishop  elect,  that  like  another 
Austin,  he  may  worthily  fulfil  the  extent  of 
the  apostleship  to  which  he  is  called ;  and 
when  you  implore  for  him  the  sevenfold  grace 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  you  will  not  fail  to  de- 
mand it  through  the  intercession  of  her  whom 
you  daily  salute,  '  Mother  of  Divine  Grace.' 

"  In  full  confidence  of  her  protection  and 
blessing  upon  our  ministry,  we  proceed  to 
the  solemnity  of  the  consecration.'" 

The  bulls  constituting  the  see  of  Baltimore, 
was  given  by  Pope  Pius  VI.,  and  bears  date 
the  6th  November,  1789. 

He  principally  devoted  to  the  interchange 
of  social  civilities  with  his  numerous  friends, 
the  short  space  of  time  that  intervened  be- 
fore the  sailing  of  the  same  ship  (in  which  he 
proposed  returning) ;  and  although  pressing 
invitations  were  extended  from  old  and  at- 
tached acquaintances,  he  could  not  reconcile 
it  to  his  sense  of  duty  to  accept  them,  and 
pass  that  time,  which  he  considered  as  now 
belonging  to  the  flock  that  anxiously  ex- 
pected and  needed  him  at  home,  in  selfish 
enjoyment. 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  119 

From  a  letter  to  a  friend,  dated  London, 
September  13,  1790,  declining  an  invitation 
to  revisit  Lul worth  castle,  we  see  how  much 
he  sacrificed  in  thus  suddenly  and  for  ever 
separating  himself  from  kind  and  warm- 
hearted friends,  whose  society  he  had  en- 
joyed for  so  brief  a  time. 

He  says,  "  I  am  sorry,  very  sorry,  indeed, 
to  inform  you  that  I  cannot,  without  the 
greatest  inconvenience,  revisit  LuUvorth,  and 
present  once  more  my  respectful  thanks  to 
the  worthy  master  and  mistress  of  the  castle. 
I  have  balanced  long,  in  my  own  mind,  the 
opposite  considerations  of  further  sojourn- 
ment in  England,  and  immediate  return  to 
America  ;  and  I  think,  after  all  deliberation, 
that  my  duty  calls  me  to  return  immediately 
to  my  diocess,  and  give  the  example  of  resi- 
dence in  it ;  for,  in  general,  bishops  are  so 
ready  to  admit  pretexts  for  exempting  them- 
selves from  that  obligation,  that  I  think  my- 
self bound  to  give  them  no  encouragement 
by  my  example,  even  on  a  plausible  pre- 
tence. I  shall  therefore  make  all  necessary 
preparations  for  sailing  in  a  fortnight  or  a 
little  more  from  this  time.  I  cannot  resolve 
on  this  without  great  pain  of  mind ;  and  in- 


120  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

deed  without  feeling  some  regret  for  having 
come  to  England,  since  I  must  leave  it  so 
soon,  and  in  it  leave  so  many  valuable,  not 
only  my  dearest  friends,  but  the  friends  of 
religion  and  models  of  virtue.  Long  shall  1 
retain  the  impression  made  on  me  at  Lul- 
worth  castle  by  the  goodness,  the  charity, 
the  loveliness  of  every  branch  of  that  most 
respectable  family ;  and  I  am  sure  my  heart 
will  be  full  of  the  gratefulest  emotions  w^hen 
I  shall  sail  abreast  of  the  castle.  They 
will  accompany  me  to  America,  and  will  be 
soothed,  though  revived  afresh,  whenever  I 
shall  have  the  comfort  of  a  letter  from  you." 
Having  thus  done  violence  to  his  feelings, 
and  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  duty  his  own 
most  ardent  wishes  and  predilections,  in  Oc- 
tober of  the  same  year  he  embarked  at 
Gravesend,  and  arrived  at  Baltimore  on  the 
7th  December,  after  a  rough  and  disagreea- 
ble passage.  The  late  Bishop  Madison,  of 
Virginia,  between  whom  and  his  reverend 
friend  the  most  cordial  relations  w^ere  long 
after  this  agreeable  meeting  carefully  pre- 
served, accompanied  him  to  and  returned 
with  him  from  England ;  he  likewise  having 
gone  thither  for  the  purpose  of  being  conse- 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  121 

crated   bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  that  state. 

The  arrival  of  Bishop  Carroll  was  an- 
nounced in  a  public  journal  of  Baltimore 
with  expressions  of  peculiar  satisfaction,  and 
in  terms  evincing  the  highest  respect  of  his 
fellow  citizens  of  all  denominations.  He 
himself  gives  the  following  description  of  his 
reception,  and  of  the  ceremonies  attendant 
upon  his  installation,  in  a  letter  to  his  cor- 
respondent in  England,  "  I  gave  you  in- 
formation, by  the  first  opportunity,  of  my 
safe  arrival  at  Baltimore,  December  7th. 
At  my  arrival,  as  my  friends  in  Baltimore 
got  notice  of  the  ship  being  in  the  bay,  I  was 
met  by  a  large  body  of  Catholics  and  others 
at  the  landing,  and  conducted  to  our  house. 
On  the  following  Sunday  you  may  believe 
the  concourse  of  all  sorts  of  people  to  our 
church  was  very  great,  though  the  day 
proved  unfavorable.  Five  of  my  brethren 
were  with  me.  They,  with  the  trustees  or 
wardens  of  the  church,  received  me,  vested 
in  my  pontificals,  at  the  door,  and  walked 
into  the  church  proce.ssionally ;  after  the 
Asperges,  and  whilst  the  Te  Deum  was 
singing,  I  was  conducted  to  the  foot  of  the 
11 


122  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

altar,  and,  after  it  was  finished,  to  the  pon- 
tifical seat  or  throne,  where  I  received  the 
obeisance  of  the  clergy,  and  some  of  the 
laity,  in  behalf  of  the  rest,  they  approaching 
to  kiss  the  episcopal  ring.  The  remaining 
ceremonies  were  performed  as  in  the  pontifi- 
cal, such  as  giving  solemn  benediction,  pro- 
claiming indulgences,"  &c. 

After  remaining  a  few  days  in  Baltimore, 
he  hastened  to  the  residence  of  his  mother, 
to  testify  towards  her  those  sentiments  of 
love  and  veneration  which  characterized  so 
strongly  his  intercourse  with  her,  and  to  re- 
new those  kindly  and  genial  relations  with 
the  rest  of  his  family  and  surrounding  friends, 
which  rendered  him  so  dear  and  acceptable 
to  them  all. 

About  the  period  of  his  short  visit  to  Eng- 
land, the  tendency  of  the  revolutionary  prin- 
ciples and  movements  in  France  warned  the 
clergy,  in  the  last  mentioned  country,  of  the 
necessity  of  escaping  from  scenes  in  which 
they  had  become  so  obnoxious  to  the  princi- 
pal actors,  and  of  seeking  an  asylum  where 
they  might  live  in  safety,  and  be  permitted 
to  exercise  the  functions  of  their  ministry 
without  personal  hazard.     About  the  period. 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  123 

therefore,  of  which  we  speak,  many  of  the 
most  respectable  of  that  body  took  refuge  in 
England ;  and  amongst  these  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Na^ot,  one  of  the  directors  of  the  ecclesias- 
tical  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  in  Paris,  was 
much  distinguished,  as  much  by  his  connec- 
tion with  that  learned  institution,  as  by  his 
own  personal  merits.  The  bishop  of  Bal- 
timore, availing  himself  of  the  opportunity 
that  accident  had  thus  placed  in  his  way, 
engaged  the  services  of  this  gentleman  and 
his  brethren  for  his  newly  established  dio- 
cess;  Mr.  Nagot  undertaking  to  return  to 
France  and  make  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments, in  concert  with  the  superior  and  other 
members  of  the  college  of  St.  Sulpice,  for 
their  coming  to  and  forming  a  similar  estab- 
lishment in  this  country. 

Before  leaving  the  United  States  to  be 
consecrated.  Dr.  Carroll  had  foreseen  the 
necessity  of  such  an  establishment,  and  had 
aided  his  brethren  in  the  formation  of  one 
attached  to  the  college  of  Georgetown,  but 
upon  a  small  scale.  The  exigencies  of  the 
missionary  service,  however,  leaving  too 
small  a  portion  of  professors  of  divinity  even 
for  the  school  at  Georgetown,  it  became  par- 


124  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

ticularly  desirable  to  procure  the  establish- 
ment of  one  upon  a  larger  scale ;  especially 
since  it  was  no  longer  necessary  for  those 
persons  in  the  United  States  who  might  be 
called  to  the  church,  to  incur  the  expense  of 
leaving  their  own  country  to  be  ordained  by 
bishops  residing  in  foreign  states. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  plan  above 
mentioned  was  suggested  to  Mr.  Nagot,  and 
adopted,  and  correspondent  measures  were 
accordingly  taken,  upon  liis  return  to  Paris, 
(ireat  difficulties  were  experienced,  how- 
ever, bv  the  Sulpicians,  in  the  withdrawal 
of  themselves,  or  any  part  of  their  property, 
from  France,  owing  to  the  political  state 
of  things  at  that  time  in  that  country ;  but 
they  succeeded  so  far  as  to  effect  the  remo- 
val to  the  United  States  of  Mr.  Nagot,  with 
several  of  his  learned  and  pious  brethren ; 
and  through  the  kind  and  opportune  assist- 
ance of  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris,  the  then 
minister  of  the  United  States  in  France,  to 
transfer  a  part  of  their  funds  and  property 
likewise  to  this  country.  By  the  advice  of 
the  right  reverend  bishop,  and  the  judicious 
selection  of  a  Roman  Catholic  gentleman 
of  Baltimore,  an  eligible  and  prudent  invest- 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  125 

ment  was  made  of  those  funds  in  the  pur- 
chase of  a  house  and  several  acres  of  land 
appurtenant  to  it,  in  the  environs  of  that 
city.  Here  the  Sulpicians  instituted  their 
new  ecclesiastical  seminary  under  the  imme- 
diate government  of  their  former  director, 
and  with  the  auspices  of  the  full  approba- 
tion, agency,  and  best  wishes  of  their  new 
bishop.* 

In  a  letter  dated  London,  25th  September, 
1790,  the  bishop  gives  the  following  brief 
account  of  his  first  interview  with  Mr.  Na- 
got  on  the  subject  of  the  proposed  establishT 
ment  in  his  new  diocess.  "  Providence 
seems  to  favor  our  views.  In  consequence 
of  a  previous  correspondence  between  the 
Nuncio  at  Paris  and  Monsieur  Emery,  supe- 
rior general  of  St.  Sulpice,  on  one  hand,  and 
myself  on  the  other,  Monsieur  Nagot,  supe- 
rior du  petit  seminaire  de  St.  Sulpice,  has 
been  here.  We  have  settled  that  two  or 
three  gentlemen,  selected  by  M.  Emery,  shall 
come  over  to  Baltimore  next  spring.  They 
are  furnished  with  the  means  of  purchasing 

*  The  seminary  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  univer- 
sity in  January,  1805,  by  the  Legislature  of  Ma-- 
ryland, 

11* 


126  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

ground  for  buildings,  and,  I  hope,  of  endow- 
ing a  seminary  for  young  ecclesiastics.  I 
believe  they  will  bring  three  or  four  semina- 
rians with  them,  who  either  are  English,  or 
know  it.  They  will  be  amply  provided  with 
books,  apparatus  for  the  altar,  church,  &c., 
professors  of  philosophy  and  divinity.  I  pro- 
pose fixing  these  very  near  to  my  own  home, 
the  cathedral  of  Baltimore,  that  tliey  may 
be,  as  it  were,  the  clergy  of  the  church,  and 
contribute  to  the  dignity  of  divine  worship. 
This  is  a  great  and  auspicious  event  for  our 
diocess ;  but  it  is  a  melancholy  reflection 
that  we  owe  so  great  a  blessing  to  the  la- 
mentable catastrophe  in  France." 

Impressed  with  the  importance  of  this  es- 
tablishment for  the  best  interests  of  the 
church,  to  which  he  was  now  constantly  de- 
voting all  his  time,  talents,  and  energies,  we 
find  the  bishop  alluding  to  the  subject, 
throughout  his  correspondence  with  his  Eng- 
lish friend,  in  the  warmest  and  most  grati- 
fied manner,  testifying  in  word  and  deed  the 
deep  concern  he  felt  for  the  progress  and 
prosperity  of  his  worthy  protegee. 

He  says,  in  Sept.  1792,  "  When  I  returned 
from  Boston,  in  July,  I  had  the  happiness  of 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  127 

finding  here  M.  Nagot  with  his  company  from 
St.  Sulpice ;  himself,  and  three  other  priests 
belonging  to  the  establishment,  viz.,  a  pro- 
curator and  two  professors,  and  five  semina- 
rians. They  will  be  joined  soon  by  one  or 
two  natives  of  this  country.  These  now, 
with  Mr.  Delavan,  a  worthy  French  priest, 
form  the  clergy  of  ray  cathedral,  (a  paltry 
cathedral,)  and  attract  a  great  concourse  of 
all  denominations  by  the  great  decency  and 
exactness  with  which  they  perform  all  parts 
of  divine  service. 

"If  in  many  instances  the  French  revolu- 
tion has  been  fatal  to  religion,  this  country 
promises  to  derive  advantage  from  it." 

In  this  letter  he  also  takes  occasion  to  al- 
lude to  the  laborious  nature  of  the  station  to 
which  he  had  just  been  elevated.  "  Such," 
says  he,  "  has  been  my  continual  occupation 
since  my  return,  that  I  have  not  yet  had 
leisure  enough  to  convoke  a  diocesan  synod. 
If  possible  one  must  be  held  early  in  Novem- 
ber. The  business  of  a  coadjutor,  and  many 
regulations  to  be  formed,  call  loudly  for  the 
holding  of  such  a  meeting.  My  diocess  is  yet 
badly  regulated,  and  it  cannot  be  much  bet- 
ter, till  I  can  command  more  time  to  form 


128  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

regulations.  Being  all  alone  to  answer  all 
letters,  to  copy  them,  to  attend  to  all  details, 
much  of  course  is  neglected  or  forgotten.  If 
I  do  not  write  you  as  often  or  as  fully  as  you 
have  a  right  to  expect,  you  must  not  impute 
the  fault  to  mc,  hut  to  unavoidable  hindrances. 
I  assure  you,  that  there  are  twenty  people  in 
this  town,  to  whom  I  owe,  and  wish  to  pay 
the  respect  of  a  civil  visit,  without  having 
been  able  to  do  it  for  many  months  ;  though 
I  am  busy  from  five  in  the  morning,  till  be- 
tween ten  and  eleven  at  night." 

Soon  after  the  return  of  the  bishop,  he  ad- 
dressed a  pastoral  letter  to  the  flock  commit- 
ted to  his  charge,  intended  specially  for  their 
instruction  and  edification,  and  communica- 
ted particularly  to  them  by  their  sev^eral 
priests  ;  but  a  copy  of  that  letter  falling  into 
the  hands  of  a  reverend  gentleman  belonging 
to  another  religious  communion,  he  took  fire 
at  the  signature  made  use  of,  that  of  "  John, 
Bishop  of  Baltimore,"  and  published  through 
the  medium  of  the  newspapers,  some  harsh 
strictures  upon  it.  This  brought  forth  "  The 
Reply"  on  the  part  of  the  bishop  of  Bal- 
timore, and  no  further  animadversions  ap- 
pear to  have  been  made  upon  the  signature, 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  129 

though  constantly  afterwards  used  by  the 
bishop  during  his  administration.  This  doc- 
ument runs  as  follows :  "  An  Answer  to 
Strictures  on  an  Extraordinary  Signature." 
"  The  Roman  Catholic  Bishop  of  Baltimore, 
in  a  late  letter  to  his  flock,  which  acknow- 
ledges his  pastoral  jurisdiction,  adopts  the 
language  sanctioned  by  the  immemorial 
usage  of  his  church,  and  takes  his  appella- 
tion from  the  town,  where  his  episcopal  see 
is  erected.  This  is  agreeable  to  the  disci- 
pline established  amongst  Catholics,  and  to 
the  practice  of  his  brethen  in  the  episcopa- 
cy ;  and  he  hopes  that  it  is  not  repugnant 
to  any  law  of  his  country.  He  has  not  in- 
vaded the  rights  of  any  religious  society ; 
nor  interfered  to  control  their  form  oficords; 
nor  disturbed  their  ministers,  for  speaking 
or  writing,  in  any  style  they  chose,  to  the 
people  who  looked  up  to  them  for  iuvstruc- 
tion.  Leaving  them  in  the  unimpeached  ex- 
ercise of  that  liberty,  which  our  free  con- 
stitution grants  them,  he  has  claimed  the 
same  benefit  to  himself;  and,  of  consequence, 
has  been  careful  to  preserve  the  language  of 
his  predecessors  in  the  episcopal  charge,  from 
its  institution,  near  eighteen  hundred  years 
ago,  down  to  the  present  time ;  for  he  knows, 


130  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

ihat  the  integrity  of  christian  doctrine,  gene- 
rally, is  preseved  best  by  a  faithful  adherence 
to  the  same  modes  of  speech ;  and  he  is  not 
disposed  to  sacrifice  to  a  spirit  of  innovation, 
or  to  a  levelling  antihierarchical  system  of 
religion,  those  expressions,  by  which  all  ages 
of  Christianity  have  designated  his  office. 

"  Yet  this,  it  seems,  is  not  pleasing  to  a 
writer,  who  signs  WimaeU Liberal.  If  like  his 
opponent,  the  bishop  were  disposed  to  write 
trifling  strictures  on  a  signature,  he  would  not 
let  this  of  Liberal  pass  unnoticed  :  for  surely, 
none  ever  accorded  less  than  this,  with  the 
composition  to  which  it  is  subscribed.  To 
be  liberal^  in  the  modern  use  of  the  term,  is 
to  assert,  with  firmness  and  impartiality,  the 
liberty,  to  which  all  of  us  are  entitled,  of  pro- 
fessing the  doctrines,  following  the  usages, 
and  speaking  the  language  of  our  respective 
churches.  Does  Liberal  allow  this  ?  So  far 
from  it,  that  he  intimates  a  threat,  if  his  eyes 
be  offended  again  with  the  inscription  of 
Bishop  of  Baltimore.     Such  is  his  liberality. 

"'Baltimore,'  he  says,  'is  a  large  place, 
containing  many  inhabitants,  who  disown  the 
hx^ho^^s  jurisdiction^  and  some  who  do  a  good 
deal  more .'  by  which  he  means,  it  may  be 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  131 

supposed,  that  they  reject  episcopacy  alto- 
gether. Let  them,  if  they  please,  disown  the 
one,  and  reject  the  other  :  they  use  tlieir  con- 
stitutional right :  and  if  the  bishop  knows 
his  own  heart,  he  will  leave  them  in  the  full 
enjoyment  of  it ;  but  he  will  ask,  Avhether,  in 
the  earliest  days  of  Christianity,  Rome,  An- 
tioch,  Alexandria,  Corinth,  Ephesus,  &c., 
were  not  likewise  large  places  ?  and  whether 
a  great  majority  of  their  inhabitants  were  not 
heathens,  who  disowned  and  rejected  bishops 
and  their  jurisdiction  ?  Nevertheless,  per- 
plexing, as  it  must  have  been  to  the  liberals 
of  those  days,  to  discover  the  meaning  and 
persons  intended  by  the  following  words  :  we 
read  of  Clement,  Bishop  of  Rome ;  Ignatius, 
Bishop  of  Antioch ;  Alexander,  Bishop  of  Al- 
exandria, &c.  Where  lies  the  greater  diffi- 
culty which  cost  Liberal  so  much  time,  be- 
fore he  could  ascertain  the  person  meant  by 
John,  Bishop  of  Baltimore?  Catholics,  to 
whom  alone  the  letter  was  addressed,  and 
who  know  the  voice  of  their  pastor,  were  at 
no  loss  to  recognize  him.  Others,  into  whose 
hands  the  curious  performance,  (so  Liberal 
styles  it,)  may  have  fallen,  received  a  fair 
and  honest  caution  to  be  upon  their  guard,  by 


132  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

the  addition  of  these  words  to  the  obnoxious 
title:  With  the  approbation  of  the  Holy  See^ 
Bishop  of  Baltimore.  When  Protestant, 
Methodist,  or  if  they  will  pardon  the  expres- 
sion, Presbyterian  bishops,  profess  to  hold 
their  bishopricks  under  the  same  approbation 
of  the  see  apostolic,  it  may  be  necessary  to 
use  some  farther  discrimination. 

"  In  this  very  town,  we  have  a  Bank  of  Ma- 
ryland, and  a  Baltimore  Insurance  Office.  In 
the  principles  of /yi6e?*«/,  stockholders  in  these 
establishments  infrinsre  the  civil  ris^ht  of  their 
countrymen  and  fellow-citizens,  for  to  be 
consistent,  he  must  allow,  that  these  denomi- 
nations import  an  arrogant  claim  of  monopo- 
lizing all  banking  transactions  in  the  state, 
and  making  insurances,  exclusively  of  all 
competition,  in  the  town  of  Baltimore.  And 
yet,  I  am  sure  that  neither  the  holders  of 
shares  formed  pretensions  so  extravagant, 
nor  was  it  the  intention  of  the  legislature, 
which  incorporated  them,  to  debar  other  ad- 
venturers from  making  similar  speculations, 
or  assuming  the  same  name  and  title,  if  they 
chose  it. 

"  So  likewise,  let  who  will,  in  other  reli- 
gious professions,  call  themselves  Bishops  of 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  133 

Baltimore^  it  will  excite  neither  regret  nor 
opposition  in  him  who  is  now  known  by  that 
denomination.  Indeed,  considering  his  line 
of  episcopal  succession,  and  source  of  spiritual 
jurisdiction,  he  will  think  his  own  the  best 
founded  claim  ;  but,  if  othersjudge  differently, 
he  will  not  accuse  them  of  invading  his  civil 
rights :  much  less  will  he  insinuate,  that  they 
are  guilty  of  presumption ;  and  less  still  will 
he  provoke  them  with  a  threat,  or  denounce 
against  them  a  return  for  their  temerity.  He 
conceives,  that  they  would  treat  such  threats, 
from  him,  with  contempt,  and  therefore,  he 
entertains  the  same  sentiment  for  those  of 
lAberal. 

"  The  bishop  is  at  a  loss  to  find  out  any  pas- 
sage or  expression,  in  his  letter,  which  could 
furnish  a  shadow  of  pretence  to  Liberal  for 
saying,  that  he  (the  bishop)  absolutely  ex- 
cludes from  the  appellation  of  christians  all 
who  are  not  within  the  jtule  of  his  church.  If 
such  a  passage  can  be  pointed  out,  the  bishop 
will  be  the  first  to  condemn  it :  since,  so  far 
from  embracing  this  opinion^  as  an  article  of 
his  faith,  he  holds  the  doctrine  directly  con- 
trary to  it  to  be  that  of  his  church,  to  which 
he  and  all  Catholics  are  bound  to  submit ; 
12 


134  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

and  which  Catholics  have  constantly  main- 
tained, in  opposition  to  the  tenets  of  some 
pretended  reformers.  But  to  remove  more 
effectually  the  impression,  which  the  asser- 
tions of  Liberal  may  have  made  on  those  who 
have  not  seen  the  bishop's  pastoral  letter, 
(and  few,  but  Catholics,  for  whom  alone  it 
was  intended,  have  seen  it)  some  copies  shall 
be  left,  to  be  disposed  of,  at  Mr.  Angell's 
printing;  ollice. 

"  Here  it  was  intended  to  have  made  a 
conclusion,  but  Liberal  having  quaintly  in- 
troduced the  term  aristocrats^  the  bishop 
would  fain  ask  whether  it  was  done  to  raise 
a  hue  and  cry  against  the  episcopal  office, 
by  bringing  into  use  amongst  us  that  invidi- 
ous and  misapplied  appellation,  which  has 
caused  a  ferocious  mob  to  disgrace  the  char- 
acter of  a  most  humane  people,  and  has  let 
them  loose  on  such  men  as  La  Fayette  and 
the  venerable  Rochefoucauld  ?  If  such  be 
the  intention  of  Liberal^  he  had  better  trans- 
port himself  to  a  country  where  he  may 
meet  congenial  souls ;  America,  I  trust,  has 
too  much  regard  for  justice,  and  understands 
too  w^ell  the  principles  of  religious  equality, 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL,  135 

to  obey  his  impulse,  or  catch  the  contagion 
of  his  spirit. 

"  The  subject  of  this  contention  is  so  tri- 
fling in  itself,  and  it  affords  so  much  room  for 
ridicule,  that,  if  Liberal  take  up  his  pen 
again,  he  must  appear  with  something  more 
material  to  engage  the  farther  attention  of 

"  John,  Bishop  of  Baltimore. 
"  November  21,  1792." 

Shortly  after  the  death  of  the  archbishop, 
a  writer  in  the  Democratic  Press  of  Phila- 
delphia indulged  himself  in  some  commenta- 
ries upon  the  obnoxious  title,  which  had 
been  used  in  designating  the  deceased,  in  the 
short  obituary  notice  that  was  published  in 
the  Baltimore  papers  upon  that  lamentable 
occasion  ;  mingling,  however,  with  his  stric- 
tures expressions  of  great  respect  and  vene- 
ration for  his  character  and  memory.  That 
writer  might  have  seen,  if  he  wished  it,  in 
the  steps  which  had  led  to  the  appointment 
of  a  Catholic  bishop  for  the  United  States, 
how  groundless  were  his  alarms,  and  decided 
proof,  likewise,  that  the  Roman  Catholic 
clergy  are  no  less  actuated  than  the  clergy 
of  any  other  religious  persuasion  in  the 
United  States,  by  a  just  and  liberal  respect 


136  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

and  regard  for  the  institutions  and  laws  of 
this  country. 

Desirous  of  impressing  upon  our  readers  a 
conviction  of  the  liberality  of  the  bishop,  and 
of  presenting  to  them  the  real  and  orthodox 
views  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  on  the 
all-important  subject  of  spiritual  and  tempo- 
ral jurisdiction,  we  make  a  brief  extract 
from  one  of  his  pastoral  letters,  dated  Balti- 
more, February  22,  1797. 

He  says  on  this  subject  that :  "  It  has  been 
always  the  uniform  endeavor  of  the  open  and 
secret  enemies  of  the  Catholic  Church  to 
represent  the  spiritual  supremacy  of  Christ's 
vicar  in  the  most  odious  light;  and  I  was  not 
surprised  to  hear  that  the  turbulent  men 
who  foment  the  present  disturbances  have 
declared  themselves  independent  of  it,  as  of 
a  foreign  jurisdiction.  By  using  these  words 
they  not  only  manifest  the  spirit  by  which 
they  are  governed,  but  they  hope  to  render 
obnoxious  to  our  fellow-citizens  an  essential 
tenet  of  our  religion,  and  all  of  us  who  pro- 
fess it ;  a  tenet,  which  is  the  bond  of  our 
union ;  which  cements  and  keeps  together, 
in  the  profession  of  the  same  faith,  in  the 
celebration  of  the  same  solemn  and  public 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  137 

worship,  and  under  one  uniform  government 
established  by  Jesus  Christ  and  perpetuated 
by  succeeding  pastors,  so  many  different  na- 
tions, so  different  from  each  other,  and  un- 
connected in  every  other  respect. 

"There  would  indeed  be  a  foundation  for 
the  reproach  intended  by  the  words,  foreign 
jurisdiction,  if  we  acknowledge  in  the  suc- 
cessor of  St.  Peter,  any  power  or  preroga- 
tive which  clashed  in  the  least  degree  with 
the  duty  we  owe  to  our  country,  or  its  laws. 
To  our  country  we  owe  allegiance,  and  the 
tender  of  our  best  services  and  property? 
when  they  are  necessary  for  its  defence ;  to 
the  vicar  of  Christ,  we  owe  obedience  in 
things  purely  spiritual.  Happily,  there  is  no 
competition,  in  their  respective  claims  on  us, 
nor  any  diificulty  in  rendering  to  both  the 
submission  which  they  have  a  right  to  claim. 
Our  country  commands  and  enforces  by  out- 
ward coercion,  the  services  which  tend  to 
the  preservation  and  defence  of  that  personal 
security,  and  of  that  property,  for  the  sake 
of  which  political  societies  were  formed,  and 
men  agreed  to  live  under  the  protection  of, 
and  in  obedience  to  civil  government.  The 
vicar  of  Christ,  as  visible  head  of  his  church, 
12* 


138  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

watches  over  the  integrity  and  soundness  of 
doctrine  and  makes  use  of  means  and  wea- 
pons, that  act  only  on  the  souls  of  men,  to 
enforce  the  duties  of  religion,  the  purity  of 
worship,  and  ecclesiastical  discipline." 

Such  were  the  doctrines,  as  declared  by 
its  first  bishop  in  this  country,  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church,  and  such  are  those 
now"  entertained  by  the  entire  clergy  and 
laity  of  that  communion.  And  we  cannot 
see  any  thing  therein,  which  should  induce 
others  to  look  upon  its  members  as  suspicious 
and  unsafe  citizens,  or  doubt  for  a  moment 
that  their  Catholic  brethren,  in  the  day  of 
need,  under  the  guidance  and  injunctions  of 
their  creed  and  ministers,  will  be  found  as 
ready  and  anxious  to  defend  and  support  by 
word  and  deed,  the  beloved  institutions  of 
their  own  free  land,  as  were  their  Catholic 
ancestors  who  fought  and  bled  in  the  cau.se 
of  American  independence. 

The  talents  that  distinguished  and  the 
zeal  in  the  service  of  virtue  and  religion 
which  had  marked  his  conduct  in  all  former 
situations,  were  an  abundant  pledge  of  the 
wisdom  and  edification  of  his  course,  in  the 
arduous  and  difficult  career  upon  which  he 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  139 

had  now  entered,  as  bishop  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States ;  and 
we  may  venture  to  say  that  never  was  pledge 
better  redeemed  or  the  high  expectations  of 
a  numerous  society  more  fully  realised. 

The  whole  tenor  of  his  life  having  been 
illustrated  by  acts  of  consummate  virtue,  re- 
gulated by  a  spirit  of  liberality,  conciliation 
and  charity,  his  administration  of  the  diocess 
of  Baltimore  perfectly  corresponded,  and  was 
in  unison,  with  his  former  course.  Although 
considerably  advanced  in  life,  he  visited  once 
almost  every  quarter  of  his  diocess,  compre- 
hending the  whole  extent  of  the  United 
States,  and  every  year  made  fatiguing  jour- 
nies  through  parts  of  it, — to  form  a  correct 
and  candid  estimate  of  the  characters  and 
fitness  of  the  several  pastors, — to  exaniine 
into  the  state  and  condition  of  the  various 
congregations  under  their  charge,  to  adminis- 
ter to  the  members  composing  them  the  sa- 
crament of  confirmation,  and  to  bestow  upon 
and  leave  with  all  his  cordial  benedictions. 

Every  year  likewise  the  theological  school 
at  Baltimore,  and  the  college  at  Georgetown, 
those  two  objects  of  his  warmest  attachment 
and  special  care,  furnished  new  candidates 


140  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

for  holy  orders,  and  zealous  clergymen,  by 
which  new  laborers  were  constantly  added 
to  the  vineyard  that  under  Providence, 
had  become  extensively  planted  through  the 
United  States  by  his  piety  and  exertions ; 
and  which  continued  to  be  successfully  cul- 
tivated, through  his  wise  and  prudent  man- 
agement. 

Every  year  these  two  excellent  institu- 
tions prosperously  went  on,  enlarging  the 
sphere  of  their  usefulness,  and  sending  forth 
pupils  thoroughly  prepared  for  the  struggles 
of  life,  and  imbued  with  a  rational  and  deep 
attachment  to  their  native  country  and  its 
institutions,  thus  carrying  sweet  consolation 
to  the  heart  of  the  prelate,  who  had  founded 
and  watched  over  their  welfare,  and  eflecting 
the  object  which  was  so  near  and  dear  to 
him,  of  rendering  the  Catholic  youth  of  this 
republic  independent  of  the  old  world,  by 
bringing  the  means  of  improvement  and  in- 
struction within  the  reach  of  all. 

Whilst  busily  occupied  in  the  more  active 
and  important  duties  of  his  station,  our  zeal- 
ous prelate  lost  no  opportunity  of  defending 
his  church  from  the  attacks  made  upon  it  by 
those  who  saw  its  increase  with  sorrow  and 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  141 

envy.  From  many  articles  circulated  through 
the  prints  of  the  day,  we  select  the  following 
additional  proof,  if  more  be  required,  of  the 
sincere  liberality  of  their  writer. 

Addressing  the  editors  of  the  Columbian 
Magazine,  he  says :  "  I  purchase  and  read 
your  magazine,  when  convenient,  because  I 
wish  well  to  every  undertaking  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  useful  knowledge  amongst  my 
countrymen.  But  I  am  sorry  to  find  that 
some  of  your  correspondents  endeavor  to  ren- 
der your  work  the  vehicle  of  disingenuity,  and 
to  taint  it  with  the  poison  of  religious  ran- 
cor. They  care  not,  it  seems,  how  much 
they  misrepresent  facts  and  doctrines,  pro- 
vided they  can  bring  disrepute  on  the  party, 
which  they  have  devoted  to  contempt.  Per- 
haps they  may  have  further  views,  and  wish 
to  renew"  the  days  of  intolerance.  One  of 
them  sends  you  a  fabricated  history  of  Car- 
dinal Tusloue,  who  never  existed,  and  which 
you  inserted  in  a  former  magazine  ;  this  his- 
tory he  enriched  with  inflammatory  com- 
ments; but  he  had  neither  justice  nor  candor 
enough  to  undeceive  your  readers  by  inform- 
ing them  that  the  whole  was  a  malicious 
fable.     I  must  waive  ceremony  so  far,  as  to 


142  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

remind  you,  that  you  come  in  yourself  for  a 
share  of  this  blame.  For  having  published 
so  false  a  relation;  it  became  you  to  correct 
your  mistake,  after  you  found  that  it  was 
contradicted  in  the  foreign  prints,  which  sug- 
gested the  first  lines  of  invention  to  your  im- 
proving  correspondent.  A  very  small  part 
of  your  monthly  miscellany  is  devoted  to  the 
article  of  JVeivs,  and  for  this  you  are  com- 
mendable :  we  can  readily  refer  to  other  col- 
lections for  that  commodity.  But  when  you 
condescend  to  relate  events  of  modern  times, 
you  might  once  in  a  month,  make  selection 
of  a  few  articles  of  undoubted  credit,  and 
general  importance,  and  not  deal  out  the  ma- 
licious and  mischief-making  forgeries  of  per- 
secuting Europeans.  Thanks  to  the  genuine 
spirit  of  Christianity,  the  United  States  have 
banished  intolerance  from  their  systems  of 
government,  and  many  of  them  have  done 
the  justice  to  every  denomination  of  chris- 
tians, which  ought  to  be  done  to  them  in  all, 
of  placing  them  on  the  same  footing  of  citi- 
zenship, and  conferring  an  equal  right  of 
participation  in  national  privileges — freedom 
and  independence — acquired  by  the  united 
efforts,  and  cemented  with  the  mingled  blood 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  143 

of  Protestant  and  Catholic  fellow-citizens, 
should  be  equally  enjoyed  by  all.  The  Jer- 
sey state  was  the  first,  which  in  forming  her 
new  constitution  gave  the  unjust  example  of 
reserving  to  Protestants  alone  the  preroga- 
tives of  government  and  legislation.  At 
that  very  time  the  American  army  swarmed 
with  Roman  Catholic  soldiers,  and  the  world 
would  have  held  them  justified,  had  they 
withdrawn  themselves  from  the  defence  of  a 
state  which  treated  them  with  so  much  cru- 
elty and  injustice,  and  which  they  then  ac- 
tually covered  from  the  depredations  of  the 
British  army.  But  their  patriotism  was  too 
disinterested  to  hearken  to  the  first  impulse 
of  even  just  resentment.  They  could  not 
believe  that  the  state  which  was  foremost  to 
injure  them,  would  continue,  or  that  any 
others  would  imitate  her  partial  and  iniqui- 
tous policy.  It  seems  they  were  not  ac- 
quainted with  the  bitter  spirit  which  dic- 
tated the  unjustifiable  exclusion;  they  trust- 
ed to  the  wise  and  generous  sentiment  which 
pervaded  every  corner  of  the  American  con- 
tinent. For  who  that  remembers  our  cordial 
unanimity  in  rejecting  the  claims  of  foreign 
oppression,   could   imagine   that  any  of  us 


144  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

would  impose  on  fellow-soldiers  and  citizens 
the  degraded  mark  of  distrust  or  galling 
yoke  of  inferiority?  Such,  however,  was 
the  treatment  they  found,  not  because  they 
were  less  warm  or  less  profuse  of  their  blood 
in  defence  of  our  common  rights;  but  be- 
cause the  authors  of  this  injustice  who  could 
resent  and  oppose  British  counsels,  levelled 
against  their  own  rights  of  legislation,  wanted 
the  greater  fortitude  of  emancipating  their 
minds  from  a  slavish  subjection  to  the  preju- 
dices imbibed  during  a  narrowed  British 
education." 

It  was  in  consequence  of  the  declaration 
of  such  enlarged  sentiments,  common  to  him 
and  his  fellow  Catholics,  that  he  wrote  and 
forwarded  to  the  father  of  his  country,  the 
following  address,  clothed  with  the  signature 
of  some  of  the  leading  members  of  his  church, 
honorable  alike  to  its  object  and  to  those 
from  whom  it  emanated  : 

"To  George  Washington,  President  of  the  U.  States: 
"  THE  ADDRESS  OF  THE  ROMAN  CATHOLICS. 

"  Sir  : — We  have  been  long  impatient  to 
testify  our  joy  and  unbounded  confidence,  on 
your  being  called  by  a  unanimous  vote,  to 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  145 

the  first  station  of  a  country,  in  vvliich  that 
unanimity   could   not   have   been    obtained, 
without  the  previous  merit  of  unexampled 
services,  of  eminent  wisdom  and  unblemished 
virtue.  Our  congratulations  have  not  reached 
you  sooner  because  our  scattered  situation 
prevented  the  communication  and  the  collect- 
ing of  those  sentiments  which  animated  every 
breast.     But  the  delay  has  furnished  us  with 
the  opportunity,  not  purely  of  presaging  the 
happiness  to  be  expected  under  your  admin- 
istration, but  of  bearing  testimony  to  that 
which  we   experience  already.     It  is    your 
peculiar  talent,  in  war  and  in  peace,  to  afford 
security  to  those  who  commit  their  protec- 
tion into  your   hands.     In  war,  you   shield 
them  from  the  ravages  of  armed  hostility  :  in 
peace,  you  establish  public  tranquillity  by  the 
justice  and  moderation  not  less  than  by  the 
vigor  of  your  government.     By  example  as 
well  as  by  vigilance,  you  extend  the  influence 
of  laws  on  the  manners  of  our  fellow-citizens. 
You  encourage  respect  for  religion,  and  in- 
culcate by  words  and  actions,  that  principle 
on  which  the  welfare  of  nations  so  much  de- 
pends, that  a  superintending  Providence  go- 
verns the  events  of  the  world,  and  watches 
13 


146  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

over  the  conduct  of  men.  Your  exalted 
maxims  and  unwearied  attention  to  the  moral 
and  physical  inij)rovement  of  our  country, 
have  produced  already  the  happiest  effects. 
Under  vour  administration  America  is  ani- 
mated with  zeal  for  the  attainment  and  en- 
couragement of  useful  literature ;  she  im- 
proves her  agriculture,  extends  her  com- 
merce, and  acquires  with  foreign  nations  a 
dignity  unknown  to  her  before.  From  these 
happy  events,  in  which  none  can  feel  a 
warmer  interest  than  ourselves,  we  derive 
additional  pleasure  in  recollecting  that  you, 
sir,  have  been  the  principal  instrument  to 
effect  so  rapid  a  change  in  our  political  situ- 
ation. This  prospect  of  national  prosperity 
is  peculiarly  pleasing  to  us  on  another  ac- 
count, because  whilst  our  country  preserves 
her  freedom  and  independence,  we  shall  have 
a  well  founded  title  to  claim  from  her  justice 
equal  rights  of  citizenship,  as  well  the  price 
of  our  blood  spilt  under  your  eyes,  and  of  our 
common  exertions  for  her  defence,  under 
your  auspicious  conduct ;  rights  rendered 
more  dear  to  us,  by  the  remembrance  of 
former  hardships.  When  we  pray  for  the 
preservation  of  them,  where  they  have  been 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  147 

granted,  and  expect  the  full  extension  of 
them  from  the  justice  of  those  states  which 
still  restrict  them  ;  when  we  solicit  the  pro- 
tection of  Heaven  over  our  common  country, 
we  neither  omit,  nor  can  omit  recommending 
your  preservation  to  the  singular  care  of  Di- 
vine Providence  ,  because  we  conceive  that 
no  human  means  are  so  available  to  pro- 
mote the  welfare  of  the  United  States,  as  the 
prolongation  of  your  health  and  life,  in  w^hich 
are  included  the  energy  of  your  example, 
the  wisdom  of  your  counsels,  and  the  persua- 
sive eloquence  of  your  virtues." 

This  eloquent  and  well  deserved  tribute 
was  signed  by  John  Carroll,  in  behalf  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  clergy,  Charles  Carroll  of 
Carrollton,  Daniel  Carroll,  Thomas  Fitzsim- 
mons  and  Dominick  Lynch,  in  behalf  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  laity. 

Shortly  after  his  installation  the  bishop  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  a  tribe  of  Indians,  about 
four  hundred  in  number,  the  remains  and  de- 
scendents  of  some  who  had  been  converted  to 
Christianity,  and  formed  under  the  French 
missionaries,  residing  on  the  confines  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, Canada  and  Nova  Scotia,  praying 
earnestly   for   clergymen.     Having   sent   to 


148  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

Europe  for  two  French  priests,  who  were  to 
go  and  reside  amonj^st  them,  he  transmitted 
to  them,  through  a  Mr.  Allen,  the  following 
letter  : 

"Baltimore,  Sept.  6,  1791. 

"  Mr.  John  Allen  : 

^'Sir, — Your  favor  of  May  21st,  with  a 
postscript  of  the  23d,  was  not  received  be- 
fore the  27th  of  August.  I  am  infinitely 
obliged  to  you  for  your  great  attention,  good- 
ness and  charity,  in  forwarding  to  me  the 
speech  of  the  Indians  of  whom  you  bear  so 
favorable  a  testimony.  My  duty  and  incli- 
nation concur  in  urging  me  to  use  my  utmost 
and  earliest  endeavors  to  procure  them  the 
help  which  they  so  earnestly  solicit,  and  let- 
ters are  gone  already  for  that  purpose.  I  shall 
be  much  mistaken,  as  well  as  disappointed, 
if  those  letters  produce  not  the  effect  de- 
sired ;  but  some  delay  must  be  looked  for — 
the  clergymen  destined  for  this  business  are 
now  in  Europe,  and  cannot  come,  I  fear,  be- 
fore the  spring.  But  when  they  do  come, 
they  will,  I  am  confident,  give  satisfaction. 
I  say  clergymen,  because  many  reasons  have 
induced  me  to  send  for  two.     This  will  not 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL,  149 

increase  the  charge  of  the  Indians,  at  least" 
not  for  some  years  to  come — when  they  will 
be  better  able  to  bear  it,  as  their  number 
will  be  probably  greater.  I  had  not  the 
least  knowledge  of  this  tribe  of  Indians  till, 
at  a  late  visit  to  Boston,  I  saw  sf  letter  respect- 
ing them  from  you  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Thayer. 
"Their  attachment  to  the  exercises  of  re- 
ligion, notwithstanding  their  long  depriva- 
tion of  its  public  functions,  their  innocent 
lives  and  their  care  to  instruct  their  chil- 
dren, are  strong  proofs  of  the  deep  impres- 
sion made  on  their  minds,  and  as  you  justly 
observe,  do  great  credit  to  their  former 
French  pastor  and  missionary,  Mv  happi- 
ness will  be  great,  if  those  whom  I  shall 
expect  next  spring,  will  walk  in  the  foot- 
steps of  their  predecessors.  Conformably 
to  your  advice  I  sent  back  the  crucifix,  and 
in  addition  to  all  your  other  kindnesses,  re- 
quest you  to  be  so  good  as  to  explain  my 
letter  to  them.  Your  services  entitle  you  to 
all  their  confidence,  and  I  have  made  it  my 
duty  to  acknowledge  myself  with  great  es- 
teem and  respect,  sir, 

"  Your  most  obd't  and  humble  serv't, 

"t  John,  Bishop  of  Baltimore^ 
13* 


150  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OP  THE 

"  Brethren  and  Beloved  Children  in  Jesus  Christ  : 

"  I  received  with  the  greatest  pleasure  the 
testimony  of  your  attachment  to  your  holy 
relisfion ;  and  I  venerated  the  sacred  crucifix 
sent  by  you  as  expressive  of  your  faith. 

"  Brethren  and  Children : 

"  I  embrace  you  with  the  affection  of  a 
father,  and  am  exceedingly  desirous  to  pro- 
cure for  vou  a  worthy  teacher  and  minister 
of  God's  holy  sanctuary,  who  may  adminis- 
ter to  your  young  people,  to  your  sons  and 
daughters,  the  sacrament  of  baptism;  may 
instruct  them  and  you  in  the  law  of  God, 
and  the  exercises  of  a  christian  life;  may 
reconcile  you  to  your  Lord  and  Maker  after 
all  your  transgressions;  and  may  perform 
for  your  women  after  child-bearing  the  rites 
ordained  by  the  Church  of  Christ. 

"  Brethren  and  Beloved  Children: 

"  As  soon  as  I  received  your  request,  and 
was  informed  of  your  necessity,  I  sent  for 
one  or  two  virtuous  and  worthy  priests  to 
go  and  remain  with  you — that  you  may 
never  more  be  reduced  to  the  same  distress- 
ful situation,  in  which  you  have  lived  so 
Ions:.     But  as  they  are  far   distant,  I   am 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  151 

afraid  they  will  not  be  with  you  before  the 
putting  out  of  the  leaves  again.  This  should 
have  been  done  much  sooner,  if  I  had  been 
informed  of  your  situation.  You  may  de- 
pend upon  it,  that  you  shall  be  always  in 
my  heart,  and  in  my  mind ;  and  if  it  please 
God  to  give  me  time,  I  will  certainly  visit 
you  myself. 

"  Brethren  and  Beloved  Children: 

"I  trust  in  that  good  God,  who  made  us 
all,  and  in  his  blessed  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  who 
redeemed  us,  that  all  the  Indians,  north- 
ward and  eastward,  will  be  made  partakers 
of  the  blessing  which  ray  desire  is  to  procure 
for  you ;  and  I  rejoice  very  much,  that  you 
and  they  wish  to  be  united  to  your  brethren, 
the  Americans.  You  have  done  very  well, 
not  to  receive  amongst  you  those  ministers 
who  go  without  being  called  or  sent  by  that 
authority  which  Jesus  Christ  has  established 
for  the  government  of  this  Church.  Those 
whom  I  shall  send  to  you,  will  be  such  good 
and  virtuous  priests  as  instructed  your  fore- 
fathers in  the  law  of  God,  and  taught  them 
to  regard  this  life  only  as  a  preparation  for, 
and  a  passage  to  a  better  life  in  heaven. 

"  In  token  of  my  fatherly  love  and  sincere 


152  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

affection,  I  send  back  to  you,  after  embracing 

it,  the  holy  crucifix  which  I  received  with 

your  letter,  and  I  enclose  it  in  a  picture  of 

our  holy  father,  the  pope,  the  head  on  earth, 

under  Christ,  of  our  divine  religion ;  and  this, 

my  answer,  is  accompanied  likewise  with 

nine  medals,  representing  our  divine  Lord, 

Jesus  Christ,  and  his  Most  Holy  Mother.     I 

desire  that  these  may  be  received  by  the 

chiefs  of  the  river  St.  John,  Passamaquoddy, 

and  Michmacs,  who  signed  the  address  to 

me.     They  came  from    and   have  received 

the  blessing  of  our  same  holy  father,  the 

vicar  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  government  of 

his  Church. 

"  That   the   blessing   of   God   may   come 

down  upon  you,  your  women  and  children, 

and  remain  forever,  is  the  earnest  prayer  of 

your  loving   father,   friend   and   servant  in 

Christ, 

"  t  John,  Bishop  of  Baltimore. 

''Baltimore,  Sept.  6,  1791." 

In  October  of  this  year,  in  a  letter  to  his 
English  correspondent,  the  bishop  informs 
him  of  some  of  the  steps  that  were  about  to 
be  taken  to  secure  the  progress  and  perpetu- 
ation of  his  see  in  this  country. 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  153 

"  On  the  7th  of  next  month  our  clergy  are 
to  meet  here  in  a  diocesan  synod.  Then  we 
shall  discuss  the  mode  of  preserving  the  suc- 
cession to  the  episcopacy  of  the  United 
States.  Instead  of  a  coadjutor,  I  am  much 
inclined  to  solicit  a  division  of  my  diocess 
and  the  creation  of  another  bishoprick.  One 
only  objection,  of  much  weight,  retards  my 
determined  resolution  in  favor  of  this  scheme, 
and  that  is,  that  previous  to  such  a  step,  a 
uniform  discipline  may  be  established  in  all 
parts  of  this  great  continent;  and  every 
measure  so  firmly  concerted,  that  as  little 
danger  as  possible  may  remain  of  a  disunion 
with  the  holy  see.  I  am  very  fearful  of  this 
event  taking  place  in  succeeding  time  unless 
it  be  guarded  against  by  every  prudential 
precaution.  Our  distance,  though  not  so 
great  if  geometrically  measured,  as  South 
America,  Goa  and  China,  yet  in  a  political 
light  is  much  greater.  South  America,  and 
the  Portuguese  possessions  in  Africa  and 
Asia,  have  through  their  metropolitical  coun- 
tries, an  intermediate  connexion  with  Rome; 
and  the  missionaries  in  China  are  almost  all 
Europeans.  But  we  have  no  European  me- 
tropolis, and  our  clergy  soon  will  be  neither 


154  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

Europeans  nor  have  European  connexions. 
Then  will  be  the  danger  of  a  propension  to 
a  schismatical  separation  from  the  centre  of 
unity.  But  the  Founder  of  the  Church  sees 
all  these  things,  and  can  provide  the  remedy. 
After  doing  what  we  can,  we  must  commit 
the  rest  to  his  Providence." 

In  another  letter,  about  a  year  subsequent 
to  the  foregoing,  he  gives  his  views  upon  the 
same  subject  in  the  following  terms: 

"  I  have  written  to  Rome,  recommending 
and  requesting  the  erection  of  another  dio- 
cess  in  the  United  States  :  this,  I  hope,  will 
be  granted ;  if  not,  I  press  for  the  grant  of  a 
coadjutor.  To  avoid  giving  offence  to  our 
own  government,  it  is  proposed  to  the  Pro- 
paganda to  allow  the  ten  oldest  clergymen 
here,  and  five  others  to  be  nominated  by  my- 
self, to  be  the  electors  of  the  new  bishop,  or- 
dinary or  coadjutor.  But  in  my  solicitude 
to  provide  for  a  close  and  intimate  union  with 
the  holy  see,  I  desire  that  if  the  grant  be 
made  agreeably  to  request,  it  may  be  under 
the  express  condition  of  reserving  a  right  in 
the  holy  see,  to  reject  the  person  elected,  as 
long  as  one  be  not  elected  perfectly  agreea- 
ble to  it. 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  155 

"lam,  I  own,  principally  solicitous  to  form 
establishments  which  will  be  lasting.  To 
pass  through  a  village,  where  a  Roman  Ca- 
tholic clergyman  was  never  seen  before ;  to 
borrow  of  the  parson  the  use  of  his  meeting- 
house or  church,  in  order  to  preach  a  ser- 
mon ;  to  go  or  send  about  the  village,  giving 
notice  at  every  house,  that  a  priest  is  to 
preach  at  a  certain  house,  and  there  to  en- 
large on  the  doctrines  of  our  Church ;  this  is 
a  mode  adopted  by  some  amongst  us  for  the 
propagation  of  religion.  But  I  would  rather 
see  a  priest  fixed  for  a  continuance  in  the 
same  place,  with  a  growing  congregation  un- 
der him,  than  twenty  such  itinerant  preachers. 
The  only  effect  which  I  have  seen  from  these, 
is  to  make  people  gaze  for  a  time,  and  say 
that  the  preacher  is  a  good  or  a  bad  one  ;  but 
as  soon  as  he  is  gone  on  his  way,  to  think  no 
more  about  him." 

Having  been  invited  by  the  unanimous  re- 
solution of  congress  in  common  with  the 
clergy  of  all  denominations  and  congrega- 
tions of  Christians  throughout  the  United 
States,  to  commemorate  the  character  and 
services  of  General  Washington,  who  was 
now  no  more,  he  delivered,  on  the  22d  of 


156  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

February,  1800,  to  a  crowded  audience  in  the 
Catholic  church  of  St.  Peter's  at  Baltimore, 
a  discourse  which  will  be  found  admirably 
adapted  throughout,  in  the  language  and 
sentiments,  to  the  character  of  the  distin- 
guished individual  who  was  the  subject  of  it. 

Having  been,  through  the  whole  contest 
between  Great  Britain  and  America,  an  at- 
tentive observer  of  its  varying  and  eventful 
incidents,  perliaps  no  person  in  the  United 
States  better  understood  its  history,  or  had 
formed  a  more  correct  estimate  of  the  cha- 
racters and  conduct  of  those  who  were  en- 
gaged in  it  than  himself,  as  well  from  the 
natural  candor  and  discriminating  powers  of 
his  mind,  as  from  the  dispassionate  view 
wliich  his  situation  and  circumstances  en- 
abled him  thus  to  take  of  the  whole  subject; 
and  it  may  be  affirmed  with  truth,  that  the 
commander  in  chief  of  the  American  armies, 
had  not  any  where  a  more  ardent  admirer  of 
his  conduct  than  he  was. 

Independentlyofthese  circumstances,  there 
was  a  singular  propriety  in  his  offering,  as  he 
did,  on  the  melancholy  occasion  referred  to, 
the  tribute  of  respect,  to  the  memory,  and  of 
w^ell  deserved  eulogium,  upon  the  character 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  157 

of  that  illustrious  hero  and  statesman,  from 
the  double  consideration  that  his  comprehen- 
sive and  enlarged  mind  qualified  him  for  the 
task,  if  that  of  anv  individual  in  the  United 
States  were  equal  to  it,  and  that  as  he  was 
at  the  head  of  a  numerous  religious  com- 
munity, second  to  none  in  patriotism  and 
exertions  during  the  revolutionary  war,  in 
the  common  cause  of  their  country,  he  was 
the  natural  and  appropriate  organ  of  their 
feelings  and  sentiments  upon  that  occasion. 

It  was  in  speaking  of  this  address,  that 
Mr.  Robert  Walsh  uses  the  following  strong 
and  descriptive  language : 

"  We  have  heard  from  some  of  the  most 
intelligent  and  observant  of  his  auditors, 
when  he  delivered  his  masterly  funeral  pane- 
gyric on  Washington,  in  which  he  recited 
the  terrors,  the  encouragements,  the  dis- 
tresses, and  the  glories  of  the  struggle  for 
independence,  that  he  appeared  to  be  labor- 
ing under  intense  emotions  correspondent  to 
those  topics — to  be  swayed  like  the  aged 
minstrel  of  the  poet,  with  contagious  influ- 
ences, by  the  varied  strains  which  he  ut- 
tered." 


14 


158  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

The  following  verses  were  written  "o?* 
reading  Archhishop  CarroWs  Eulogimn  on 
General  Washington.^' 

"  Sweet  is  the  voice  of  praise 

E'en  when  youthful  tongues, 

ImpellM  by  loyal  hearts  and  wond'ring  minds, 

With  virtuous  zeal  applaud  the  brave  or  wise : 

But  sweeter  far  and  dearer  to  the  soul 

Of  the  high  warrior  or  the  sage  profound. 

Is  the  eulogium  of  a  holy  man, 

Whose  reverend  years  and  sanctity  disdain 

A  worldly  motive  for  the  fame  he  gives." 

DISCOURSE. 

"  When  the  death  of  men  distinguished  by 
superior  talents,  high  endowments,  and  emi- 
nent services  to  their  country,  demands  the 
expression  of  public  mourning  and  grief,  their 
loss  is  accompanied,  generally,  with  this  miti- 
gation, that  however  grievous  and  painful,  it 
is  not  irreparable ;  and  that  the  void  caused 
by  their  mortality  w^ill,  perhaps,  be  filled  up 
by  others,  uniting  equal  abilities  with  the 
same  zeal  and  watchfulness  for  the  general 
welfare.  Hope  then  wipes  off  the  tears, 
with  which  sorrow  bedews  the  grave  of  de- 
parted worth.  But  on  the  present  occasion, 
no  such  consolation   can   be   administered ; 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  159 

for  he,  whose  expectations  are  most  san- 
guine, dares  not  promise  again  to  his  coun- 
try the  union  of  so  many  splendid  and  useful 
virtues  as  adorned  that  illustrious  man, 
whose  memory  excites  our  grateful  and  ten- 
der sensibility,  and  to  whose  tomb  the  hom- 
age of  his  country  is  to  be  solemnly  offered 
on  this  day.  Whether  we  consult  our  own 
experience,  by  bringing  into  comparison  with 
Washington  any  of  our  cotemporaries,  most 
eminent  for  their  talents,  virtues  and  ser- 
vices, or  whether  we  search  through  the 
pages  of  history,  to  discover  in  them  a  cha- 
racter of  equal  fame,  justice  and  truth  will 
acknowledge  that  he  stands  supereminent 
and  unrivalled  in  the  annals  of  mankind 
and  that  no  one  before  him,  acting  in  such  a 
variety  of  new  and  arduous  situations,  bore 
with  him  to  the  grave  a  reputation  as  clear 
from  lawless  ambition,  and  as  undefiled  by 
injustice  or  oppression:  a  reputation,  nei- 
ther depressed  by  indolence,  nor  weakened 
bv  irresolution,  nor  shadowed  by  those  im- 
perfections,  which  seemed  to  be  the  essential 
appendages  of  human  nature,  till  Providence 
exhibited  in  Washington  this  extraordinary 
phenomenon. 


160  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

"  What  language  can  be  equal  to  the  ex- 
cellence of  such  a  character?  what  propor- 
tion can  exist  between  eloquence  and  the 
tribute  of  praise,  due  to  so  much  virtue  ? 
Nevertheless,  my  fellow-citizens,  1  read  in 
the  eargerness  of  your  attention,  your  desire 
to  offer  this  tribute.  Methinks  I  hear  your 
filial  piety,  your  tender  reverence  for  your 
best  friend,  the  father  of  his  country,  calling 
on  me  to  bear  for  you,  at  least,  a  feeble  tes- 
timony of  your  unextinguishable  gratitude  for 
his  services,  your  immortal  remembrance  of, 
and  veneration  for  his  virtues.  In  your  name, 
therefore,  I  presume  to  add  some  grains  of  in- 
cense to  the  homage,  which  throughout  the 
United  States  every  friend  to  their  happi- 
ness now  presents  at  the  shrine  of  Washing- 
ton. Pardon,  O  departed  spirit  of  the  first 
of  heroes  !  if  with  the  cold  accents  of  an 
exhausted  imagination,  I  likewise  dare  at- 
tempt to  celebrate  thy  name,  whilst  so  many 
sons  of  genius,  ardent  in  youthful  vigor,  de- 
lineate in  glowing  colors  the  vivid  features 
of  thy  mind,  and  the  glorious  deeds  of  thy 
virtuous  life.  With  unequal  steps,  I  venture 
on  the  same  career,  not  seeking  to  add  lustre 
to  the  fame  of  Washington,  or  perpetuate  his 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  161 

memory  to  future  times ;  for  he  is  already 
enshrined  in  the  records  of  immortality  ;  but 
humbly  hoping,  that  a  recital  of  his  services 
will  open  to  our  countrymen  the  road  to  true 
honor,  and  kindle  in  their  breasts  the  warmth 
of  generous  emulation  and  real  patriotism. 
To  contribute  in  this  manner  to  the  best  in- 
terests of  his  beloved  country,  will  be  to  him 
the  most  gratifying  commendation,  if  in  the 
regions  of  immortality,  human  affairs  still 
claim  a  share  of  his  solicitude. 

"  The  language  uniformly  held  by  Wash- 
ington, the  maxim  invariably  inculcated  and 
repeated  by  him  in  almost  every  public  mani- 
festation of  his  sentiments,  was  the  acknow- 
ledgment of  a  superintending  Providence, 
preparing,  regulating  and  governing  all  hu- 
man events,  for  the  accomplishment  of  its 
eternal  purposes,  and  predisposing  the  instru- 
ments by  which  they  are  to  be  effected. 
Religion  and  observation  had  taught  him 
that  God's  provident  wisdom  reacheth  from 
end  to  end  mightily  and  disposeth  all  things 
sweetly.  Wis.  viii.  He  contemplated  with 
christian  piety,  and  the  philosophy  of  a  sage, 
ih^^ost  remarkable  revolutions  and  occur- 
rences of  former,  as  well  as  his  own  times, 
14* 


162  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

and  learned  therefrom  to  refer  every  human 
event  to  the  moral  government  of  a  supreme 
intelligent  Being.  This  became  the  polar 
star,  by  which  he  was  guided  in  his  progress 
through  life,  and  in  all  his  anxious  solicitude 
for  maintaining  the  liberty,  perfecting  the 
policy,  preserving  the  peace,  insuring  the  sta- 
bility of  his  country  on  the  foundations  of 
order  and  morality,  and  guarding  it  against 
the  turbulence  of  faction,  licentiousness, 
foreign  hostility  and  artifice. 

"  This  virtuous  maxim  of  religious,  moral 
and  political  wisdom,  so  deeply  impressed  on 
him,  never  perhaps  was  more  illustrated,  than 
bv  the  course  of  Providence  in  preparing  and 
adapting  his  body  and  mind  to  suit  the  des- 
tinies of  his  life.  He  was  to  himself  a  lumi- 
nous proof  of  that  truth,  which  was  so  rooted 
in  his  soul. 

"  That  infinite  knowledge,  which  in  its  com- 
prehensive range  through  the  whole  extent 
of  creation,  embraces  the  future,  no  less  dis- 
tinctly, than  past  and  present  contingencies, 
beheld  the  period  approaching,  when  this 
vast  portion  of  America,  now  constituting  the 
United  States, — this  country  spread  through 
so  many  climates, — so  diversified  in  its  pro- 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  163 

ductions, — so  abundant  in  natural  resources, 
— so  benefited  by  land  and  water, — so  ad- 
mirably calculated  for  the  employment  of  in- 
dustry, and  for  affording  subsistence  to  mil- 
lions and  millions,  was  to  break  the  bonds  of 
its  ancient  connection  with  Great  Britain, 
and  emancipated  from  vassalage,  elevate  it- 
self to  the  station  of  a  great,  and  powerful 
empire ! 

"  A  convulsion  so  violent  in  the  political 
system  of  Europe  and  America,  involved 
the  demolition  of  deeply  rooted  habits  and 
opinions.  The  associations  arising  out  of 
consanguinity,  habitual  intercourse,  unity  of 
government,  identity  of  laws,  language  and 
religion,  were  to  be  melted  down,  before  that 
wonderful  revolution  could  be  completed.  A 
new  people  unconscious  before  of  their  own 
strength,  were  to  feel  in  their  physical  and 
moral  energies  the  ripeness  of  manhood. 
Accustomed  to  respect  the  nation,  with 
which  they  would  have  to  contend,  as  irre- 
sistible in  arms,  and  inexhaustible  in  re- 
sources, they  must  dare  nevertheless  to  make 
the  vigorous  effort,  and  conceive  a  reliance 
on  their  own  native  strength.  Powerful  in- 
terests, the  necessary  effects  of  long  estab- 


164  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

lished  government,  would  naturally  coun- 
teract every  tendency  towards  its  downfall ; 
but  these  interests  were  to  be  resisted  by 
force,  and  borne  down  by  the  enthusiastic 
ardor  of  patriotism. 

"  To  superintend  the  movements  and  opera- 
tions of  such  a  revolution  :  to  control  during 
its  progress,  jealousies,  enmities,  suspicions 
and  other  conflicting  passions  ;  and  from  their 
collision,  to  educe  national  and  individual 
prosperity,  peace,  order,  liberty  and  regular 
government,  required  the  discernment  and 
masterly  contrivance  of  that  Supreme  Direc- 
tor and  Artist,  who  unites  together  the  links, 
and  holds  in  his  hands  the  chain  of  all  human 
events.  Contemplating,  as  much  as  is  al- 
lowed to  feeble  mortals,  his  divine  agency  in 
preparing  the  means  and  conducting  the  pro- 
gress of  the  American  revolution,  we  may 
presume  to  say,  that  heaven  impressed  a 
character  on  the  life  of  Washington,  and  a 
temper  on  his  soul,  which  eminently  qualified 
him  to  bear  the  most  conspicuous  part,  and 
be  its  principal  instrument  in  accomplishing 
this  stupendous  work. 

We  trace  as  far  back  as  to  his  early  youth, 
the  evidences  of  this  Providential  interposi- 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  165 

tion.  Born  in  times  and  circumstances  un- 
favorable to  the  spirit  and  exertions  of  bold 
enterprize,  he  however  soon  devoted  him- 
self to  useful  and  active  exercises.  He 
disdained  the  inglorious  ease  and  ignoble 
pursuits,  which  fettered  or  perverted  the 
talents  of  his  young  countrymen,  inactive, 
not  through  choice,  but  wanting  objects 
and  encouragement.  To  deliver  Washing- 
ton from  the  danger  of  contracting  similar 
habits,  he  was  inspired  to  embrace  the  hardy 
discipline  of  difficult  and  perilous  labors, 
which  added  vigor  to  his  constitution,  and  a 
robustness  to  his  nerves,  that  never  after 
shrunk  from  danger.  Following  the  instinct 
of  his  towering  genius,  he  had  not  reached 
the  years  of  manhood,  when  he  was  engaged 
in  enterprizes  pregnant  with  terror,  and  pre- 
senting to  his  view  objects  of  a  most  formida- 
ble aspect.  He  did  not  however  enter  on 
them  with  thoughtless  temerity.  At  that 
early  period  he  began,  what  he  persisted  in 
through  life,  to  associate  motives  of  pub- 
lic utility  with  magnanimous  undertakings. 
The  usual  occupations  of  his  young  country- 
men were  not  sufficient  employment  for  his 
active  mind  ;  he  therefore  turned  his  views 


166  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

towards  that  vast  western  region,  now  so  fa- 
miliar to  our  ears  and  acquaintance,  but  then 
known  only  by  the  terrors  it  inspired,  and 
the  cruelties  practised  by  the  savage  Indians, 
lurking  in  its  forests  and  recesses.  He  left 
the  endearments  of  society,  to  explore  the 
courses  of  rivers,  to  traverse  plains  and  moun- 
tains far  beyond  the  then  inhabited  frontiers  ; 
hoping  to  discover  sources,  whence  future 
opulence  might  flow  to  his  country, — to  ex- 
amine the  productions,  and  estimate  the  fer- 
tility of  immense  tracts,  capable  of  rewarding 
the  industry  of  thousands,  pining  in  want  and 
oppression  in  foreign  lands ;  whose  descend- 
ants might  people  the  wilderness,  beautify  it 
by  cultivation,  and  multiply  the  resources  of 
his  native  province.  In  these  achievements, 
the  heroic  youth  was  to  inure  himself  to 
hunger  and  thrist,  to  lie  on  the  damp  earth 
without  any  covering  but  the  spreading 
branches  of  the  oak  and  the  canopy  of  the 
heavens  ;  to  accustom  himself  to  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  the  seasons,  the  parching  heat  and 
chilling  frost ;  to  herd  with  the  beasts  of  the 
forest ;  to  be  exposed  to  the  tomahawk  and 
scalping  knife  ;  to  be  surrounded  by  difficul- 
ties, yet  never  to  be  disheartened;  to  meet  at 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  167 

every  step  the  image  of  death,  without  ever 
being  appalled,  or  admitting  a  momentary 
sentiment  of  dispair. 

"Imagine not,  my  fellow-citizens,  that  this 
is  an  ideal  and  fanciful  representation  of 
Washington's  youthful  years.  No!  it  is 
faintly,  but  truly  copied  from  real  scenes  of 
his  life.  Who,  on  the  wing  of  imagination, 
has  followed  him,  clambering  over  the  lofty 
western  mountains,  fording  unfathomed  and 
rapid  rivers,  exposing  his  invaluable  life  to 
innumerable  accidents  of  treachery  and  hos- 
tility, without  shuddering  for  his  existence, 
and  admiring  his  cool,  collected  courage,  in 
conquering  obstacles,  and  surmounting  dan- 
ger ?  Such  was  the  training  and  education, 
by  which  Providence  prepared  him  for  the 
fulfilment  of  his  future  destinies. 

"  Far  different  from  this,  were  the  motives 
which  urged  the  youth  of  Sparta  and  Rome 
to  encounter  toils  of  danger  and  opposition. 
They  obeyed  the  institutions  of  their  coun- 
try !  they  were  stimulated  by  the  goad  of 
aspiring  ambition,  and  a  desire  of  acquiring 
that  false  glory,  which,  in  the  erroneous  opin- 
ions of  their  cotemporaries  attached  itself 
to  the  men,  who   carried  devastation  and 


168  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

carnage  into  the  bowels  of  neighboring 
nations.  With  better  views,  and  superior 
courage,  Washington  penetrated  into  the  in- 
hospitable confines  of  the  savage  Indian, 
that  he  might  render  them  the  abodes  of 
peace,  and  introduce  into  their  bosom  the 
improvements  of  civilization.  So  success- 
fully the  guardian  angel  of  this  chosen 
youth,  ministering  to  the  designs  of  Provi- 
dence, had  infused  already  into  his  soul  the 
sweet  spirit  of  benevolence,  together  with 
heroical  fortitude. 

"  For  him  it  was  decreed,  in  the  progres- 
sion of  his  life,  to  defend,  and  ultimately  to 
establish,  by  just  and  necessary  warfare,  the 
liberties  of  his  country.  Providence  there- 
fore permitted  a  train  of  occurrences  to  en- 
sue, which  served  to  furnish  his  mind  with 
the  first  rudiments  of  military  science,  and 
discipline  him  to  the  vigilance  and  profes- 
sion of  a  soldier.  At  that  time,  two  pow- 
erful European  nations  held  North  America 
in  their  subjection  ;  their  territories  bordered 
on  each  other,  and  each  claimed  rights,  dis- 
allowed by  its  rival  power.  One  of  these, 
France,  sent  out  a  military  force  and  her 
Indian  allies,  to  occupy  posts  deemed  to  be 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  169 

within  the  territory  of  Virginia,  and  conti- 
guous to  the  stations  selected  by  Washing- 
ton, as  best  adapted  to  the  protection  of  his 
native  land ;  for  his  intrepidity  and  local 
knowledge  had  already  placed  him  at  the 
head  of  a  small  body  of  his  countrymen, 
collected  together  to  stop  the  progress  of  the 
invaders.  With  those  he  covered  the  inha- 
bitants from  hostile  encroachment,  he  won 
the  confidence  of  the  savage  Indian,  and 
conducted  a  dangerous  and  intricate  nego- 
tiation for  a  suspension  of  hostilities. 

''  But  the  durable  preservation  of  peace 
depended  not  on  the  counsels  of  America ; 
England  and  France  transported  their  en- 
mity to  her  shores,  and  covered  our  country 
with  hostile  array.  England,  confident  of 
her  prow^ess  and  the  discipline  of  her  armies, 
would  not  commit  the  defence  of  her  inter- 
ests to  raw  provincials.  Washington's  ar- 
dent soul  suflfered  him  not  to  remain  behind 
in  safety,  wiiile  the  security  of  his  country 
was  at  stake.  The  hand  of  Providence 
lead  him  forward,  that  he  might  add  to  his 
experience  and  native  fortitude.  He  fought 
under  Braddock;  and  that  ill-fated  com- 
mander having  paid  by  his  death  the  tribute 
15 


170  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

of  his  rashness — his  army,  dispirited  by  de- 
feat, and  flying  before  an  enemy  flushed  with 
victory — Washington,  in  that  perilous  mo- 
ment, gatliered  round  him  his  first  compan- 
ions in  arms,  and  rescued  out  of  the  jaws 
of  death,  the  remains  of  the  vanquished  bat- 
tallions.  He  did  more;  he  stood  in  the  front 
of  danger,  and  every  where  opposing  him- 
self to  tlie  merciless  savages,  ready  to  burst 
as  a  dark  cloud,  fraught  with  the  thunder- 
bolts of  heaven,  on  a  terrified  land,  he 
averted  the  storm,  and  restored  to  his  trem- 
bling country  the  serenity  of  hope  and 
peace. 

"  The  theatre  of  war  was  transported  af- 
terwards to  distant  provinces  of  America. 
Then  the  same  all-w  ise  Providence,  which 
had  inured  him  to  danger,  prepared  him  for 
the  toils  of  government,  and  the  important 
duty  of  superintending  in  his  riper  years,  the 
political  administration  of  a  great  and  widely 
extended  people.  His  services  in  the  field 
had  won  the  confidence  of  his  fellow-citizens ; 
they  committed  to  his  vigilance  and  integrity 
their  highest  interests  in  their  legislative  as- 
sembly. In  this  school  he  perfected  himself 
in  the  knowledge  of  mankind  ;  he  observed 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  171 

the  contentions  of  parties,  the  artifices  and 
conflicts  of  human  passions ;  he  saw  the 
necessity  of  curbing  them  by  salutary  re- 
straints, he  studied  the  conjplicated  science 
of  legislation,  he  learned  to  venerate  the 
sanctity  of  laws,  to  esteem  them  as  the  pal- 
ladium of  civil  society,  and  deeply  imbibed 
this  maxim,  so  important  for  the  soldier  and 
the  statesman,  and  which  he  ever  after  made 
the  rule  of  his  conduct,  that  the  armed  de- 
fenders of  their  country  would  break  up  the 
foundations  of  social  order  and  happiness,  if 
they  availed  themselves  of  the  turbulence  of 
war,  to  violate  the  rights  of  private  property 
and  personal  liberty. 

"  Thus  Washington,  during  the  interval  of 
peace,  stored  his  mind  with  the  treasures  of 
political  wisdom.  The  time  was  approach- 
ing for  him  to  expend  those  treasures  on  his 
country's  welfare. 

"  I  need  not  recapitulate  the  origin  of  the 
discontents  between  Great  Britain  and  her 
American  dependencies.  Suifice  it  to  say, 
that  America  received  the  claims  of  the 
parent  country,  as  incompatible  with  her 
freedom  and  happiness.  The  great  soul  of 
Washington  revolted  at  the  idea  of  national 


172  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

degradation ;  but  tempering  his  ardor  with 
deliberate  wisdom,  he  associated  with  other 
sages  of  his  country,  to  meditate  on  her  new 
and  critical  situation. 

"  Here  let  us  pause,  fellow  citizens,  to  con- 
template this  exalted  man  revolving  in  his 
breast  the  natural  and  social  rights  of  human 
kind  :  comparing  those  with  actual  and  im- 
pending grievances,  and  with  the  obligations 
of  an  allegiance  due  to  a  long  established 
government.  Had  lawless  ambition  reigned 
in  his  breast,  he  would  have  decided  the  pub- 
lic voice  for  immediate  hostility.  But  in  this 
point  also.  Providence  destined  him  to  leave 
a  memorable  and  salutary  example.  He 
was  not  dazzled  by  the  prospect  of  being 
elevated  to  the  chief  command  of  the  mili- 
tary force  of  America.  In  his  opinion,  no- 
thing could  justify  a  recurrence  to  the  sword, 
and  a  revolt  from  established  authority,  but 
extreme  necessity.  All  resonable  means  of 
redress  should  be  tried,  before  a  good  citizen 
will  dissolve  the  fabric  of  government,  and 
expose  a  people  to  the  convulsive  shocks  of 
a  revolution,  the  explosions  of  which  no  con- 
siderate man  can  promise  himself  to  regu- 
late, or  foresee  their  termination. 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  173 

"  A  reflection  here  forces  itself  upon  my 
mind,  which  I  ought  not  to  withhold  from  my 
respectable  auditors.  Would  to  God,  that 
the  principal  authors  and  leaders  of  the  many 
revolutions,  through  which  unhappy  France 
has  passed  in  the  course  of  a  few  years — 
would  to  God,  that  they  had  been  influenced 
by  a  morality  as  pure  and  enlightened  as 
that  of  Washington,  and  his  associates  in  the 
first  congress  !  What  scenes  of  carnage  and 
cruelty !  what  private  woes  and  public  ca- 
lamity w^ould  have  been  spared  to  that  ill- 
fated  country  ! — and  how  sacred  and  venera- 
ble would  have  still  remained  to  it  the  sanc- 
tuary of  religion  ! 

"  Washington  and  his  colleagues  obeying 
at  the  same  time  the  dictates  of  patriotism 
and  the  duty  of  allegiance,  represented  their 
wrongs  to  their  sovereign  and  claimed  their 
rights.  On  the  event  of  their  remonstrance, 
depended  the  redress  of  their  grievances  ;  or, 
if  no  redress  followed,  their  justification  for 
standing  on  their  defence,  Britain  would 
not  relent,  and  all  that  remained  to  America, 
was  submission  or  resistance.  The  election 
was  soon  made  :  every  one  prepared  himself 
for  the  awful  contest,  and  all  eyes  and  hopes 
15* 


174  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

were  turned  towards  Washington.  With 
universal  approbation  he  was  summoned  to 
place  himself  in  the  front  of  danger,  and  as- 
sume supreme  military  command.  The  pos- 
session of  such  a  citizen  at  a  moment  so 
critical,  was  an  invaluable  treasure,  and  an 
animating  presage  of  the  favorable  issue  of 
the  great  contest. 

"But  far  other  thoughts  absorbed  his  at- 
tention.    Modest,  as  he  was  eminent  in  valor 
and  wisdom,  he  contemplated  with  mingled 
emotions  of  self-ditfidence  and  generous  resolu- 
tion, the  important  stake  placed  in  his  hands ; 
the  subjection  or  independence:  the  vassalage 
or  freedom  of  an  immense  territory,  destined 
to  be  the  habitation  of  countless   millions. 
When  therefore,  in  obedience  to  the  voice  of 
his  country,  he  placed  himself  at  the  head  of 
her  army,  the  expressions  of  his  dependence 
on   Providence  should    never   be   forgotten. 
Claiming  no  personal  merit,  apprehensive  of 
injuring  the   public   interest   through   some 
misconduct ;  yet  trusting  to  the  justice  of  his 
cause,  and  conscious  of  the  purity  of  his  mo- 
tives, he  called  upon  his  fellow  citizens  to 
remember  that  he  depended  for  success,  not 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  175 

on  his  own  military  skill,  but  on  the  God  of 
battles,  to  whom  he  made  his  solemn  appeal. 

"  Washington,  now  at  a  period  of  his  high- 
est elevation,  drew  on  him  the  attention,  not 
only  of  this  western  continent,  but  of  every 
European  nation.  O  fellow  citizens  !  what 
days  and  years  of  anxious  disquietude  re- 
volved over  us,  whilst  we  gazed  on  this  splen- 
did luminary,  uncertain  whether  it  would 
shed  on  its  country  the  effulgence  of  victory 
and  peace,  crowned  by  liberty ;  or  whether 
its  brightness  would  be  shadowed  by  the 
clouds  of  disaster  and  defeat ! 

"  Here  language  fails  :  I  dare  not,  I  cannot 
follow  the  heroic  Washington  in  the  career 
of  his  military  glory.  To  baffle  the  strata- 
gems of  the  ablest  generals,  to  repel  the 
onset  of  the  bravest  and  best  disciplined 
armies,  what  had  America  to  place  in  his 
hands? — neither  soldiers  trained  to  arms,  nor 
accustomed  to  subordination  ;  nor  the  imple- 
ments of  war,  nor  the  treasures  to  purchase 
them.  But  the  genius  of  the  commander 
finally  supplied  every  deficiency.  He  intro- 
duced order  and  discipline  :  inspired  love  and 
confidence;  and  with  these  auxiliaries,  he 
kept  together  unclothed  and  unpaid  armies, 


176  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

which,  under  other  generals,  would  perhaps 
have  demanded  justice  at  the  point  of  their 
bayonets.  Always  vigilant  to  foil  hostile  at- 
tempts, he  exhausted  the  resources  of  the 
enemy,  without  suffering  them  to  force  him 
to  action.  Tender  of  the  blood  of  his  fellow 
soldiers,  and  never  exposing  their  lives  with- 
out cause,  or  prospect  of  advantage,  hu- 
manity was  as  dear  to  him  as  victory ;  as 
his  enemies,  that  fell  into  his  power,  always 
experienced.  When  a  decree  of  retaliation 
became  necessary  to  restrain  their  licentious 
excesses,  with  what  delicacy,  without  the 
least  abatement  of  fortitude,  did  he  save  the 
life  of  the  victim,  devoted  to  atone  for  the 
cruelty  that  had  been  committed  on  an 
American  officer  ! — not  however,  till  he  had 
compelled  the  opposing  general  to  restrain 
and  disavow  outrages,  that  aggravate  so 
much  the  necessary  evils  of  war.  How 
sacred  was  his  respect  to  the  civil  authority  ! 
how  effectual  his  protection  of  the  property 
of  his  fellow  citizens  !  When  the  generous 
feelings  of  the  virtuous  and  beneficent  Lewis, 
whose  deplorable  fate  should  draw  tears  of 
blood  from  every  American  heart,  sent  out 
his  nobles  and  legions,  to  combat  by  his  side, 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  177 

the  dignity  of  his  manners  and  his  unas- 
suming merit,  won  their  entire  confidence : 
his  integrity  and  conciliating  spirit  united, 
as  a  band  of  brothers,  nations  before  un- 
known to  each  other,  and  totally  different  in 
manners,  habits  and  religion.  Their  union, 
of  which  he  was  the  soul,  was  a  new  omen 
of  victory,  and  gained  for  America  the  prize 
for  which  she  bled  and  contended :  honorable 
peace  and  independence. 

"  What  but  unfading  laurels  remained  now 
for  Washington,  after  satisfying  his  honest 
ambition,  and  steering  the  vessel  of  the 
American  Republic  through  so  many  storms, 
into  the  safe  harbor  of  liberty  and  tran- 
quillity ?  It  remained  for  him  to  leave  this 
important  lesson  to  the  chief  of  armies,  vested 
with  great  commands;  that  magnanimity 
and  true  glory  consist  in  laying  their  swords 
at  their  country's  feet,  when  the  object  is  at- 
tained, for  which  alone  it  was  permitted  to 
draw  them.  It  remained  for  him,  after  ab- 
dicating public  employments,  to  exhibit  in 
the  shade  of  retirement  those  private  virtues 
which  are  the  true  foundations  of  national 
prosperity.  Dutiful  to  this  moral  principle, 
Washington,  before  he  left  his  army,  stipu- 


178  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

lated  for  no  personal  reward,  and  even  re- 
fused all  that  could  be  offered  ;  unmindful  of 
himself,  he  was  only  solicitous  to  obtain  for 
his  faithful  legions  a  generous  and  liberal 
acknowledgment  of  their  constancy  and 
valor.  This  being  effected,  as  far  as  it  de- 
pended on  him,  he  resigned  the  insignia  of 
his  command  to  those,  from  whom  he  had 
received  it,  and  resumed  the  rank  of  a  pri- 
vate citizen,  carrying  with  him  into  his  do- 
mestic retreat,  the  esteem,  respect  and  vene- 
ration, of  an  admiring  world. 

"  Here  the  curtain  drops,  and  seems  to 
close  forever  from  the  public  eye  and  public 
duty,  this  wonderful  man.  His  country  has 
no  more  right  to  disturb  his  calm  repose ;  he 
has  paid  superabundantly  her  claim  to  his 
services.  But  the  views  of  Providence  over 
him  are  not  yet  completed ;  peace  and  inde- 
pendence are  obtained,  but  to  preserve  them, 
experience  soon  made  it  manifest,  that  to 
invigorate  with  one  spirit  the  vast  mass  of 
population  throughout  the  United  States,  one 
general  superintending  government  was  es- 
sentially requisite,  which  saving  the  rights  of 
all,  should  likewise  be  competent  to  com- 
mand the  services  of  all  for  the  public  weal ; 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  179 

to  maintain  order  within,  and  to  repel  ag- 
gression from  abroad,  enforce  the  demands  of 
justice,  and  diffuse  over  important  national 
acts,  dignity,  energy,  unity  of  design  and 
execution.  Washington's  penetration  soon 
discovered  the  want  of  such  a  government, 
and  in  a  paternal,  affectionate  address  to  his 
countrymen,  had  bequeathed  on  them,  as  a 
legislator,  his  earnest  recommendation  for  its 
establishment. 

"  Various  causes  delayed  the  execution  of 
this  necessary  w^ork,  till  the  edifice  of  Ame- 
rican independence,  unsupported  by  its  ne- 
cessary pillars,  was  crumbling  into  ruin ; 
then  every  friend  to  his  country  remembered 
Washington's  fatherly  advice,  every  patri- 
otic hand  was  ready  to  prop  up  the  tottering 
fabric.  Wisdom  and  experience  combined 
to  blend  in  a  republican  form  of  government 
all  the  advantages,  of  which  other  forms  are 
productive,  without  many  of  their  evils. 
Our  illustrious  deliverer  presided  at  the  de- 
liberations, whicJi  produced  it ;  the  Ame- 
rican people  besought  him  once  more  to  quit 
his  beloved  retreat,  and  perfect  a  work,  of 
wiiich  he  had  been  the  first  founder  and  a 
principal  architect.  The  earnestness  of  their 


180  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

request  overpowered  his  reluctant  mind,  he 
could  not  resist  their  unanimous  wishes,  nor 
could  any  personal  dangers  stand  in  compe- 
tition with  the  advancement  of  general  hap- 
piness. Yet  how  immense  were  his  sacri- 
fices !  how  perilous  his  hazards ! — sacrifices 
known  only  to  them,  who  having  spent  their 
best  years  in  transactions,  that  kept  every 
nerve  on  the  stretch,  are  permitted  in  the 
evenin2r  of  their  davs  to  taste  of  the  calm 
repose  of  rural  felicity,  and  the  solace  of 
domestic  endearments.  Disheartening  was 
the  prospect  in  venturing  again  on  the  agi- 
tated ocean  of  national  responsibility.  There 
existed  not  in  the  world  a  name  so  bright  as 
his;  no  character  stood  on  such  lofty  pre- 
eminence. Shall  he  expose  these  to  the  ca- 
pricious fluctuations  of  popular  opinion? 
Shall  he  embark  the  treasure  of  a  reputation 
purchased  by  so  many  services,  on  a  sea, 
sown  thick  with  rocks  of  envy,  pride  and 
disappointment  ?  These  are  sufficient  to  appal 
a  heart  less  sublime,  and  less  inflamed  with 
genuine  patriotism.  But  such  considerations 
had  no  effect  on  him,  and  he  took  into  his 
hands  the  helm  of  state. 

"  What  were  the  effects  of  his  administra- 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  181 

tion  ?  Are  we  not  deceived  by  magical  delu- 
sion? or  is  it  the  transformation  wMiich  our 
senses  witness,  really  effected  ?  Have  the 
United  States  risen  from  a  lethargic,  impo- 
verished, degraded  condition  to  activity,  opu- 
lence and  respect  1  Does  the  farmer  receive 
a  generous  retribution  for  his  industry  ?  Does 
the  merchant  cover  the  seas  with  his  ships, 
conveying  to  every  clime  the  productions  of 
our  native  soil  ?  Does  the  public  creditor  ob- 
tain security  and  payment  of  his  generous 
reliance  on  national  faith  ?  Does  justice  dis- 
pense her  equitable  awards  to  every  suitor 
approaching  her  sanctuary?  Do  distant  na- 
tions respect  the  counsels,  and  solicit  the 
friendship  of  the  United  States  ?  Are  the 
natives  of  every  land  wafted  to  our  shores, 
as  to  the  refuge  of  peace,  the  residence  of 
true  liberty  ?  Yes,  fellow  citizens,  this  is  not 
delusion — these  are  the  real  effects  and 
monuments  of  Washington's  administration, 
yet  it  was  thwarted  and  embarrassed  by  in- 
ternal opposition  and  foreign  intrigue.  Scarce 
had  we  tasted  of  the  sweets  of  peace,  enliv- 
ened by  industry  and  commerce,  when  at- 
tempts were  made  to  ravish  from  us  these 
inestimable  blessings,  and  plunge  us  into  the 
16 


182  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

horrors  of  war;  not  only  of  war,  but  of  a 
war  of  that  kind  which,  connecting  our  in- 
terests and  fate  witli  that  of  a  country  de- 
livered up  to  anarchy  and  a  prey  to  frantic 
outrageous  passions,  would  have  tended  to 
extinguish  amongst  us  the  principles  of  mo- 
rality, inflame  us  with  the  rage  of  innova- 
tion, intoxicate  us  with  delusive,  ruinous 
theories  of  government,  and  most  probably, 
would  have  substituted  them  to  that  excel- 
lent constitution  which  is,  and  may  it  long 
continue  to  be,  our  pride  and  happiness! 
But  thanks  to  thy  immortal  spirit,  O  ever 
dear  and  venerable  father  of  thy  country  ! 
thy  wisdom  discovered  the  approaching 
storm,  and  thy  firmness  baffled  its  violence; 
our  peace  and  constitution  remain  to  us  un- 
impaired. No  foreign  influence  dictated  to 
the  counsels  of  America.  She  increased  in 
vigor,  she  rose  in  character,  and  by  self- 
government,  by  keeping  herself  disentangled 
from  the  strifes  of  contending  nations,  she 
evinced  herself  worthy  of  her  independence. 
"  After  settling  his  country  in  this  desirable 
state,  Washington  had  fulfilled  the  destinies 
of  that  Providence  which  had  formed  him 
for   the   exalted    purpose   of    diffusing    the 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  183 

choicest  blessings  over  millions  of  men,  and 
preparing  the  same  for  millions  yet  unborn. 
His  wish  to  bury  himself  again  in  the  shades 
of  retirement,  returned  on  him  with  re- 
doubled force;  to  hide,  if  possible,  his  great- 
ness from  the  world,  and  in  the  sweet  repose 
of  domestic  life,  diversified  however  by  use- 
ful and  lionorable  occupations,  to  forget  his 
past  glory.  The  last  act  of  his  supreme 
magistracy  was  to  inculcate,  in  most  impres- 
sive language,  on  his  countrymen,  or  rather 
on  his  dearest  children,  this  his  deliberate 
and  solemn  advice ;  to  bear  incessantly  in 
their  minds,  that  nations  and  individuals  are 
under  the  moral  government  of  an  infinitely 
wise  and  just  Providence;  that  the  founda- 
tions of  their  happiness  are  morality  and  re- 
ligion, and  their  union  amongst  themselves 
their  rock  of  safety ;  that  to  venerate  their 
constitution  and  its  laws  is  to  insure  their 
liberty.  Then  he  took  his  tender  farewell 
of  public  employments,  devoting  the  remain- 
der of  his  precious  life  to  a  commendable 
self-review  of  it,  through  all  its  vicissitudes 
and  agitations,  a  review  for  which  every 
wise  man,  knowing  his  accountability  to  a 


184  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 


Sovereign  Judge,  should  allot  time  and  make 
opportunity. 

"After  endeavoring  thus  far  to  satisfy  our 
common  duty  to  our  illustrious  deliverer, 
before  I  conclude,  I  am  earnest,  my  fellow 
citizens,  to  leave  impressed  on  you  in  strong 
characters,  some  principal  features  of  his 
mind,  and  furnish  you  with  short  memorials 
of  his  most  remarkable  actions,  hoping 
thereby  to  perpetuate  your  gratitude,  and 
incite  you  to  emulate  his  virtues.  Happily, 
to  supply  my  inability,  I  find  this  task  exe- 
cuted, as  it  would  seem,  by  the  spirit  of  pro- 
phecy, and  in  the  language  of  inspiration,  in 
the  eighth  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Wisdom, 
where  the  author's  expressions  need  no  com- 
ment to  appropriate  them  to  Washington. 
So  striking  the  resemblance !  so  true  is  the 
picture  !  Here  are  the  words  of  the  inspired 
writer:  'I  purposed,'  says  he,  'to  take  wisdom 
with  me  to  live  with  me,  knowing  that  she 
will  communicate  with  me  of  her  good 
things,  and  will  be  a  comfort  in  my  care ;  for 
her  sake  I  shall  have  glory  among  the  mul- 
titude, and  honor  with  the  ancient,  though  I 
am  young ;  and  I  shall  be  admired  in  the 
sight  of  the  mighty,  and  the  faces  of  princes 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  185 

shall  wonder  at  me.  By  the  means  of  her  I 
shall  have  immortality,  and  shall  leave  he- 
iiind  me  an  everlasting  memory  to  them  that 
come  after  me.  I  shall  set  tiie  people  in 
order,  and  nations  shall  he  suhject  to  me. 
Terrible  kings  hearing,  shall  be  afraid  of  me; 
among  the  multitude  I  shall  be  found  good 
and  valiant  in  war.  When  I  go  into  my 
house,  I  shall  repose  myself  with  her,  for  her 
conversation  hath  no  bitterness,  nor  her  com- 
pany any  tediousness,  but  joy  and  gladness. 
Thinking  these  things  with  myself,  and  pon- 
dering them  in  my  heart,  that  to  be  allied  to 
wisdom,  is  immortality — I  went  about  seek- 
ing that  I  might  take  her  to  myself.' 

"  In  this  picture,  every  stroke  of  tlie  pencil 
exhibits  traits  of  Washington.  The  early 
maturity  of  his  judgment  was  the  fruit  of 
his  youthful  conferences  with  wisdom.  She 
initiated  him  into  her  counsels,  and  procured 
for  him  love,  respect,  honor,  confidence,  au- 
thority and  command:  she  enabled  him  to 
set  people  in  order  by  good  government,  and 
an  impartial,  disinterested  administration  of 
it ;  and  when,  all  public  duties  fulfilled,  he 
went  to  Ills  house  to  repose  himself,  no  tedious- 
ness or  hitterre.s  mingled  themselves  in  their 
16* 


186  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

conversation,  but  joy  and  gladness,  serenity 
of  mind,  and  the  pleasing  prospect  of  con- 
scious integrity. 

"  Providence  having  preserved  and  length- 
ened his  days,  that  he  might  rear  up  his 
country  in  the  infancy  of  her  independence, 
suffered  him  now  to  withdraw  himself  from 
the  disquietudes  of  government.  He  had  in- 
fused the  spirit  of  his  administration  into  all 
its  departments.  His  excellent  successor  in- 
herited, not  only  the  mantle  of  his  office,  but 
his  wisdom,  firmness  and  love  of  peace,  sub- 
ordinate only  to  a  determination  of  never 
purchasing  it  at  the  price  of  national  dis- 
honor. 

"  Washington  beheld  from  his  retirement, 
as  the  Jewi.sh  legislator  from  the  summit  of 
Mount  Phasga,  the  flourishing  prosperity  of 
his  country.  Health  sweetened  his  repose 
and  rural  occupations :  his  body  and  mind 
retained  their  usual  vigor.  We  flattered  our- 
selves with  the  expectation  of  his  continu- 
ing long  to  retain  them  :  joy  beamed  in  our 
hearts,  when  on  every  annual  revolution  we 
gratefully  hailed  this,  his  auspicious  birth- 
day. But,  alas  '  how  dark  is  the  cloud,  that 
now  overshadows  it !     The  songs  of  festivity 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  187 

are  converted  into  the  throbs  of  mourning ! 
The  prayers  of  thanksgiving  for  his  health 
and  life  changed  into  lamentations  for  his 
death  !  Who  feels  not  for  him,  as  for  his 
dearest  friend,  his  protector  and  his  father  ? 
Whilst  he  lived,  we  seemed  to  stand  on  loftier 
ground,  for  breathing  the  same  air,  inhabiting 
the  same  country,  and  enjoying  the  same 
constitution  and  laws,  as  the  sublime  and 
magnanimous  Washington.  He  was  invest- 
ed with  a  glory,  that  shed  a  lustre  on  all 
around  him.  For  his  country's  safety,  he 
often  had  braved  death,  when  clad  in  her 
most  terrific  form  :  he  had  familiarized  him- 
self with  her  aspect ;  at  her  approaching  to 
cut  the  thread  of  his  life,  he  beheld  her  with 
constancy  and  serenity,  and  with  his  last 
breath,  as  we  may  believe  from  knowing  the 
ruling  passion  of  his  soul,  he  called  to  heaven 
to  save  his  country,  and  recommended  it  to 
the  continual  protection  of  that  Providence, 
which  he  so  reverently  adored.  May  his 
prayer  have  been  heard  !  May  these  United 
States  flourish  in  pure  and  undefiled  religion, 
in  morality,  peace,  union  and  liberty,  and  the 
enjoyment  of  their  excellent  constitution,  as 
long  as  respect,  honor  and  veneration  shall 


188  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

gather  around  the  name  of  Washington : 
that  is,  whilst  there  shall  be  any  surviving 
record  of  human  events." 

Bishop  Carroll,  ever  watchful  for  the  wel- 
fare of  his  Church,  and  desirous  of  providing 
a  fit  edifice  for  the  use  and  ornament  of  the 
metropolitan  see,  having  by  his  exhortations 
and  active  zeal,  prepared  in  part  the  means 
of  effecting  this  realization  of  this  great  and 
leading  undertaking  of  his  declining  years, 
commenced  the  present  Cathedral  at  Balti- 
more, by  laying  the  corner  stone,  on  the  7th  of 
July,  1806,  with  the  appropriate  pomp  and 
ceremony.  This  large  and  imposing  temple, 
although  not  yet  finished,  is  worthy  of  its 
rank  as  the  metropolitan  church  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  failh  in  this  country,  and  does 
great  credit  to  its  architect,  B.  H.  Latrobe, 
Esq.,  under  whose  superintendence  it  was 
erected. 

In  the  administration  of  his  diocess,  it  had 
been  the  good  fortune  of  our  bishop  to  find 
zealous  and  worthy  co-laborers  in  the  cause 
of  religion,  and  amongst  these  good  and  holy 
men,  whose  memory  is  preserved  in  the  dio- 
cesses  which  they  illustrated  with  their  vir- 
tues, and  extended  by  their  enterprising  ef- 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  189 

forts,  there  is  one  prelate  in  particular  whose 
association  with  the  subject  of  our  notice, 
was  honorable  to  both,  and  productive  of  the 
greatest  benefit  to  their  Church  in  this  coun- 
try. Our  readers  will  pardon  us  for  making 
the  following  extracts  from  the  "  Life  of  Car- 
dinal de  Cheverus,  archbishop  of  Bordeaux, 
by  the  Rev.  J.  Hone  Dubourg,"  which  in- 
teresting and  able  work  has  been  translated 
in  a  masterly  manner  by  Robert  M.  Walsh, 
Esq.,  of  Philadelphia. 

We  begin  with  the  arrival  of  this  so  much 
regretted  luminary  of  the  Church  at  Boston, 
ill  the  year  1795,  a  few  years  after  Bishop 
Carroll  had  entered  upon  the  discharge  of 
his  duties,  and  beg  the  reader  to  observe  how 
much  these  two  good  men  resembled  each 
other  in  their  unobtrusive  piety,  christian 
humility,  active  zeal,  and  happy  faculty  of 
conciliating  the  good  will  of  all  who  knew 
them  of  every  denomination,  and  thus  win- 
ning for  their  then  misrepresented  and  des- 
pised religion,  a  liberal  and  respectful  recep- 
tion. 

"  His  escape  from  death,"  says  his  biogra- 
pher, "  rendered  M.  de  Cheverus  still  more 
eager   to    consecrate    entirely   to   God   the 


190  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

days  which  his  Providence  had  saved — the 
promptings  of  the  zeal  which  called  him  to 
other  lands  became  still  more  powerful. 
Whilst  occupied  with  such  thoughts  he  re- 
ceiv^ed  a  letter  from  the  Abb6  Matignon,  a 
former  professor  in  the  Sorbonne  whom  he 
had  known  in  Paris.  This  excellent  clergy- 
man, not  less  estimable  for  his  piety  than  his 
talents,  for  his  zeal  than  his  prudence,  was 
alone  at  Boston,  where  he  had  been  placed 
by  Mr.  Carroll,  the  Bishop  of  Baltimore,  who 
had  then  the  whole  United  States  under 
his  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  ;  and  w^ith  the 
charge  of  the  city,  he  had  that  also  of  the 
tribes  of  the  Penobscot  and  Passamaquoddy 
Indians.  Dismayed  at  the  trust  so  much 
above  the  strength  of  a  single  individual,  and 
still  more  at  the  hostility  of  more  than  thirty 
religious  sects,  all  animated  with  the  most 
violent  hatred  against  what  they  termed  Pa- 
pistry^ he  was  anxious  to  obtain  an  assistant 
to  divide  with  him  the  heavy  burden.  The 
difficulty  was  to  find  a  proper  one ;  for  every 
priest  w^as  not  calculated  for  a  country  im- 
bued with  such  prepossessions  against  the 
Catholic  clergy.  It  was  requisite  to  have  a 
man  of  gentle  virtue,  of  engaging  manners, 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  191 

of  perfect  disinterestedness,  and  cultivated 
intellect,  who  might  be  able  to  overcome 
prejudices,  to  secure  affection,  and  to  win 
consideration  and  esteem.  After  the  fullest 
and  most  conscientious  deliberation,  it  seemed 
to  M.  de  Matignon,  that  the  man  he  wanted 
was  M.  de  Cheverus,  whose  rare  merit,  and 
delightful  character  he  had  appreciated  when 
at  the  Sorbonne.  He  wrote  to  him  therefore 
in  1795 ;  depicted  all  the  misfortunes  of  this 
neglected  mission,  pointed  out  to  him  a  new 
church  to  be  created,  told  him  of  Catholics 
spread  over  an  immense  surface  without  spi- 
ritual succor,  and  exposed  to  the  danger  of 
losing  their  faith  ;  of  savage  tribes,  to  whom 
the  light  of  the  gospel  might  be  carried — in 
short,  mentioned  every  species  of  apostolical 
Labor  to  be  performed.  How  worthy  of  his 
zeal  was  not  this  boundless  field  !  and  in 
what  quarter  of  the  globe  could  his  services 
be  more  useful  to  the  Church  ! 

"  On  the  3d  of  October,  1796,  he  arrived 
safely  at  Boston,  where  he  was  received  by 
M.  de  Matignon  as  an  angel  sent  from  heaven 
to  his  aid.  The  good  Abbe  immediately  in- 
formed Bishop  Carroll  of  the  happy  event, 
asking  him,  at  the  same  time,  for  the  powers 


192  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

requisite  for  the  new  missionary,  whose  tes- 
timonials he  sent  him.  One  from  the  Bishop 
of  Dol,  the  other  from  the  Bishop  of  Mans, 
both  equally  strong  in  their  attestations  to 
the  purity  of  his  faith,  the  fervor  of  his  zeal, 
the  warmth  of  his  piety,  his  uncommon  eru- 
dition, and  perfect  loyalty  to  his  king  and  the 
head  of  the  Church.  Mr.  Carroll  was  over- 
joyed at  tlie  intelligence  of  his  arrival,  and 
lost  no  time  in  investing  him  with  all  the 
powers  requisite  for  his  ministry." 

We  cannot  refrain  from  bringing  before 
our  readers  the  following  strongly  drawn 
pictures  of  the  state  of  public  feeling  in  New 
Engrland  towards  the  Church  of  which  he  was 
so  worthy  a  servant,  upon  the  arrival  of  the 
zealous  missionary  at  Boston,  and  of  the 
wonderful  change  produced  in  its  favor,  by 
his  edifying  virtues,  conciliating  manners,  and 
liberal  doctrines,  all  of  which  met  the  appro- 
bation, and  was  rendered  more  striking  and 
efficacious  by  the  example  and  practice  of 
Bishop  Carroll,  and  the  clergy  under  his  con- 
trol, throughout  the  United  States. 

"  The  whole  country,"  says  M.  Dubourg, 
"  and  Boston  in  particular,  inhabited  by  En- 
glish colonies  who  had  carried  thither  all  the 


MOST  REV,  JOHN  CARROLL.  193 

prejudices  of  their  father-land,  was  filled,  as 
we  have  already  mentioned,  with  a  multi- 
tude of  sects,  all  disagreeing  among  them- 
selves in  doctrine,  but  all  united  upon  one 
single  point, — hatred  to  the  Catholic  religion. 
The  ministers  of  the  various  denominations 
never  ceased  declaiming  against  it,  never 
ceased  exhibiting  it  to  the  people  as  an  im- 
pure mass  of  idolatries,  and  corrupt  and  des- 
picable individuals,  as  the  new  Babylon 
cursed  in  the  Apocalypse,  as  the  enemy  of 
God  and  man.  Its  doctrines  weie  depicted 
as  a  hideous  collection  of  impiety,  absurdity, 
and  error,  its  priests  as  vile  impostors,  to  be 
avoided  like  a  pestilence.  These  denuncia- 
tions, so  often  repeated,  had  found  credence, 
and  taken  root  among  all  ranks  of  society,  so 
that  every  where  the  name  of  Catholic  was 
held  in  execration,  a  priest  was  regarded  with 
horror,  and  the  small  number  of  the  faithful 
who  lived  in  that  section,  were  objects  of  con- 
tempt or  dislike,  the  more  so  that  being  al- 
most all  exiled  Irishmen,  they  were  poor, 
and  in  consequence,  destitute  of  considera- 
tion." 

Thus  far  the  dark  side  of  the  picture,  now 
for  the  bright ! 
17 


194  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

"  The  esteem  with  which  M.  de  Cheverus 
was  regarded  naturally  extended  itself  to  his 
congregation.  It  was  not  to  be  supposed 
that  the  flock  of  such  a  pastor  could  be  as 
vile  and  despicable  as  they  had  been  repre- 
sented. Prejudice  daily  decreased,  and  the 
instructions  of  M.  de  Cheverus,  together  with 
the  docility  of  the  Catholics  in  conforming  to 
them,  soon  dissipated  it  altogether.  He  often 
repeated  to  his  hearers  the  lesson  of  the 
apostle,  that  those  who  speak  ill  of  us  should 
be  silenced  by  means  of  charity,  good  works 
and  holy  example  :  that  the  characteristic  of 
true  piety  is  to  be  ever  amiable,  ever  promot- 
ing the  happiness  of  all  around,  to  preserve 
towards  all  under  every  circumstance,  a  de- 
portment alike  respectful,  kind  and  delicate. 
After  their  duties  to  their  neighbors,  he  ex- 
plained those  enjoined  upon  them  towards  the 
state ;  showed  them  the  obligation  of  obeying 
the  laws  even  when  they  might  be  avoided  with- 
out incurring  their  penalties ;  of  respecting 
the  magistrates,  of  contributing  to  the  good 
order,  peace,  and  prosperity  of  the  country,  and 
should  it  be  attacked,  of  employing  force  in  its 
defence  if  required,  and  sacrificing  fortune 
and  life  itself     The  Catholics  listened  to  his 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  195 

instructions,  and  put  them  in  practice.  Of 
the  religious  societies  of  Boston,  they  became 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  for  their  justice, 
their  charity,  their  devotion  to  everything 
right ;  and  during  the  last  icar  which  the 
United  States  waged  against  England^  none 
were  more  ardent  in  their  patriotism^  none 
more  ready  to  cairy  aid  loherever  it  id  as  needed, 
and  none  moie  active  in  laboring,  even  with 
their  hands,  in  the  construction  of  ichatever 
was  requisite  for  the  defence  of  the  city ;  so 
that  the  Protestants  ivere  compelled  to  ac- 
knowledge that  they  were  excellent  citizens  no 
less  than  upright  and  honorable  men.  Divi- 
sion then  ceased  ;  mutual  relations  of  esteem 
and  respect  w^ere  established ;  and  M.  de 
Cheverus  w^as  thus  enabled  to  give  the  fol- 
lowing reply  to  an  interrogatory  from  the 
holy  see  in  reference  to  the  state  of  his  mis- 
sion. "  In  this  place  where  a  few  years  ago 
the  Catholic  Church  was  the  object  of  exe- 
cation,  the  name  of  a  priest  held  in  horror, 
we  are  now  esteemed  and  loved,  thought  of 
kindly,  and  kindly  treated." 

Who,  after  reading  these  eloquent  passages 
and  having  candidly  reflected  on  these  patri- 
otic doctrines,  anr'  *heir  practical  application, 


19G  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

particularly  mentioned  in  those  portions  which 
we  have  italicised,  will  presume  to  call  in 
question  the  principles  and  acts  of  American 
Catholics,  when  they  have  found  such  sin- 
cere and  powerful  exponents  of  the  true  and 
orthodox  doctrines  of  their  Church,  as  Arch- 
bishop Carroll,  and  Cardinal  de  Cheverus? 

"  So  brilliant  a  reputation,''  continues  our 
biographer,  "could  not  remain  enclosed  with- 
in the  precincts  of  Boston.  Archbishop  Car- 
roll, informed  of  his  talents  and  virtues, 
thought  that  a  priest  of  so  much  merit,  ought 
not  to  continue  in  a  secondary  place,  and  that 
he  was  w^orthy  of  being  invested  with  the 
charge  of  a  more  important  church.  In  con- 
sequence he  wTote  to  him,  offering  him  the 
pastorship  of  the  church  of  St.  Mary,  at  Phi- 
ladelphia. Honorable  as  was  the  letter  to 
M.  de  Cheverus,  it  yet  gave  him  pain.  He 
could  not  brook  the  idea  of  leaving  his  excel- 
lent friend,  M.  Matignon,  w  ho  had  called  him 
from  England,  and  whom  he  venerated  as  a 
father ;  and  thanking  Mr.  Carroll  for  this 
testimonial  of  his  confidence,  he  begged  his 
permission  to  remain  where  he  w^as.  A  re- 
quest which  could  not  be  refused." 

M.  de  Cheverus,  having  received  letters 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  197 

from  the  king  of  France,  and  his  friends  and 
former  parishioners,  urging   his   return,  M. 
Dubourg  goes  on  to  say — "  Whilst  he  was 
thus  agitated  by  conflicting  feelings,  he  re- 
ceived on  the  9th  of  April,  1803,  a  letter  from 
Archbishop  Carroll,  who  having  learned  how 
much  danger  there  was  of  losing  so  efiicient  a 
coadjutor,  wrote  to  beseech  him  not  to  aban- 
don his  post.     The  prelate,  a  man  of  superior 
intellect,  as  well  as  virtue,  worthy  of  the  first 
ages  of  the  Church,  spread  before  him,  with 
great  force,  all  the  reasons  fitted  to  detain 
him,  and  finished  by  declaring  his  conviction 
that  it  was  the  will  of  God  he  should  remain. 
M.  de  Cheverus  whose  humility  prompted  him 
to  follow  his  own  inclinations,  no  sooner  read 
this  letter  than  his  uncertainty  ceased.     He 
thought  he  saw  in  it  the  command  of  Provi- 
dence, and  that  was  sufficient  for  his  faith. 
Instantaneously  he  offered  up  to  God  the  sa- 
crifice of  his  country,  and  of  all  the  gushing 
reflections  which  beckoned  him  towards  it ; 
and  on  the  Sunday  of  Easter,  he  announced 
to  his  flock  that  he  would  remain   among 
them,  sharing  their  good  and  their  evil  for- 
tune, and  that  they  should  fill  the  place  of 
those  relations  whom  he  gave  up  for  their 
17* 


198  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

sakes.     The  joy  of  the  Catholics,  and  indeed 
of  all  the  inhabitants  of  Boston,  at  this  in- 
telligence, may  be  more  easily  imagined  than 
described.      The    fear    of   losing   him   had 
thrown  them  into  consternation;  the  assur- 
ance of  keeping  him  filled  them  with  happi- 
ness ;  and  to  give  him  a  striking  proof  of  their 
gratitude,  they  made  new  and  great  exer- 
tions to  finish  the  church  which  had  so  long 
before  been   commenced.     The   building  in 
consequence  proceeded  with  great  rapidity  ; 
and  in  four  months  M.  de  Cheverus  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  the  edifice  completed, 
and  planting  the   cross  upon  its   roof     He 
immediately  communicated  the   fact  to  Bi- 
shop Carroll,  through  the  medium  of  M.  Ma- 
tignon,  and   invited  him  to  consecrate  the 
new  temple  on  the  29th  of  September,  the 
feast  of  Saint  Michael.     The  bishop  at  once 
promised    to   perform   the   ceremony.     The 
consecration  of  the  first  Catholic  church  in 
a  city  like  Boston,  was  too  interesting  a  cir- 
cumstance  for   the  faith  to  permit   him   to 
hesitate ;  and  besides,  the  temptation  to  pass 
some  days   with   two  ecclesiastics  like   M. 
Matignon  and  M.  de  Cheverus,  was  irresisti- 
ble.    He  repaired,  therefore,  to  Boston  on 


MOST  REV,  JOHN  CARROLL.  199 

the  day  appointed,  and  on  the  29th  Septem- 
ber, 1803,  consecrated  the  edifice  under  the 
name  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Cross.  The 
ceremony  was  magnificent ;  the  temple  was 
decorated  with  draperies  and  garlands ;  the 
altar  covered  with  rich  ornaments,  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  clergy  whose  edifying  deport- 
ment was  still  more  attractive;  the  crowd 
was  prodigious ;  Protestants  and  Catholics, 
were  alike  eager  to  see  the  ceremony ;  and 
M.  de  Cheverus  put  the  crowning  glory  to 
the  festival  by  the  discourse  which  he  pro- 
nounced. Inspired  by  the  occasion,  by  the 
presence  of  the  first  pastor  of  the  Church  in 
America,  by  the  numerous  concourse  of  peo- 
ple, he  spoke  with  a  warmth,  an  energy  of 
expression  and  sentiment  which  carried  the 
audience  away.  The  bishop  could  not  re- 
strain his  emotion,  and  when  the  preacher 
descended  from  the  pulpit,  he  threw  himself 
upon  his  neck,  shedding  tears  of  joy,  and 
blessing  God  for  having  bestowed  upon  the 
Church  so  admirable  a  servant.  On  the 
evening  of  the  ceremony,  M.  de  Cheverus 
caused  the  exterior  of  the  edifice  to  be  illu- 
minated with  all  possible  splendor,  but  with 
all  that  taste  which  he  possessed  in  so  ex- 


200  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

quisite  a  degree.  The  inhabitants  without 
distinction,  were  all  delighted  with  the 
beauty  of  the  spectacle,  congratulated  M.  de 
Cheverus,  and  seemed  to  share  in  his  happi- 
ness. On  beholding  this  scene,  Bishop  Car- 
roll could  not  help  contrasting  what  he  saw 
with  the  state  of  the  Catholic  religion  in 
Boston  at  the  period  of  M.  de  Cheverus'  ar- 
rival, and  wanted  words  to  express  his  as- 
tonishment and  delight. 

"  Whilst  IM.  de  Cheverus  was  thus  prose- 
cuting his  holy  labors,  Providence  was  pre- 
paring for  him  the  honors  of  the  prelacy. 
Bishop  Carroll,  who  was  incessantly  occupied 
with  the  means  of  accelerating  the  progress 
of  the  Catholic  religion  in  the  United  States, 
had  conceived  the  idea  of  erecting  four  new 
sees,  one  of  which  was  to  be  at  Boston,  and 
embrace  the  whole  of  New  England.  For 
this  bishopric  he  had,  in  the  first  place,  cast 
his  eyes  upon  the  venerable  M.  Matignon, 
whose  age  and  learning,  and  former  reputa- 
tion as  a  doctor  and  professor  in  the  Sor- 
bonne,  seemed  to  give  him  a  preference  over 
his  more  youthful  assistant ;  and  he  was  on 
the  point  of  sending  his  recommendations  to 
Rome,  when  M.  Matignon  was  informed  of 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  201 

his  intentions.  Alarmed  at  the  intelligence, 
the  excellent  abb6  hastened  to  protest 
against  the  selection,  gave  a  formal  refusal, 
and  proposed  his  friend  M.  de  Cheverus  in 
his  place.  The  archbishop,  who  was  well 
acquainted  with  the  merits  of  the  vicar  of 
Boston,  had  no  dilficulty  in  allowing  himself 
to  be  persuaded,  and  wrote  to  Rome  accord- 
ingly. This  letter  was  favorably  received. 
On  the  8th  of  April,  1808,  Pius  VII.  sent  his 
brief,  erecting  Baltimore  into  a  metropolitan 
see,  and  creating  four  suffragan  bishoprics, 
at  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and 
Bardstown  in  Kentucky.  M.  de  Cheverus 
was  named  for  the  first;  M.  Concanney,  a 
Dominican,  for  the  second;  M.  Egan,  a 
Franciscan,  for  the  third ;  and  M.  Flaget,  a 
St.  Sulpitian,  for  the  last." 

A  delay  having  occurred  on  the  way,  in 
consequence  of  the  death  of  M.  Concanney, 
who  was  bearer  of  the  bulls,  our  biographer 
continues :  "  At  length  the  bulls  arrived,  he 
(M.  de  Cheverus)  repaired  to  the  seminary 
at  Baltimore,  to  make  preparations  for  his 
consecration,  and  perform  the  customary  re- 
treat. This  he  did,  under  the  directions  of 
M.  Nagot,  the  superior  of  the  establishment, 


202  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

an  old  man  of  angelic  virtue,  of  the  most  ad- 
mirable simplicity  of  character,  and  the  pro- 
foundest  humility.  On  the  1st  of  November 
(All-Saints  day),  1810,  he  was  consecrated  in 
the  Cathedral  of  Baltimore,  by  Archbishop 
Carroll,  assisted  by  his  coadjutor,  Mr.  Neale, 
and  Mr.  Egan,  Bishop  of  Philadelphia.  On 
the  4th  of  the  month,  the  feast  of  St.  Charles, 
he  preached  in  the  same  cathedral  at  the 
consecration  of  M.  Flaget,  Bishop  of  Bards- 
town,  and  pronounced  upon  the  occasion  a  re- 
markable discourse,  which  his  modesty  alone 
prevented  from  appearing  in  print,  its  publi- 
cation having  been  universally  demanded. 
In  it  he  saluted  Mr.  Carroll  as  the  Elias  of 
the  new  law,  the  father  of  his  clergy,  the 
conductor  of  the  car  of  Israel  in  the  new 
world.  Pater,  mi,  pater  mi,  currus  Israel 
et  auriga  ejus;'  and  celebrated  the  praises 
of  the  society  of  St.  Sulpitius,  to  which  M. 
Flaget  belonged,  citing  the  various  eulogiums 
that  had  been  pronounced  upon  it,  at  different 
epochs  in  the  assemblies  of  the  clergy  of 
France,  and  the  phrase  w^hich  fell  from  the 
lips  of  Fenelon  on  his  bed  of  death,  at  that 
moment  when  a  manjiatters  no  more,  '  I  know 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  203 

nothing  more  venerable  and  more  apostoli- 
cal than  the  order  of  St.  Sulpitius.'  " 

It  was  on  the  occasion  of  the  consecration 
of  M.  Cheverus,  as  bishop  of  Boston,  that  the 
Rev.  Dr.  V.  Harold,  one  of  the  pastors  of  St. 
Mary's  church  in  Philadelphia,  paid  the  fol- 
lowing beautiful  compliment  to  Archbishop 
Carroll. 

"  Very  Rev.  Fathers : — You  have  not  to  re- 
sort to  antiquity  for  an  example  of  episcopal 
virtue.  That  bounteous  God,  whose  mani- 
fold blessings  overspread  this  land,  whose 
boundless  mercies  claim  our  warmest  grati- 
tude, still  preserves  for  your  advantage  a 
living  encouragement  to  such  virtue,  and  a 
fair  model  for  your  imitation.  You  will  seek 
both  in  your  venerable  and  most  reverend 
prelate ;  you  will  find  both  in  the  father  of 
the  American  Church,  and  under  God, — the 
author  of  its  prosperity.  In  him  you  will 
find  that  meekness  which  is  the  best  fruit  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  which  for  Christ's  sake 
makes  him  the  servant  of  all ;  that  richly 
polished  character  which  none  but  great 
minds  can  receive,  nothing  but  virtue  can 
impart." 

Before  separating,  the  five  bishops  availed 


204  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

themselves  of  the  occasion  to  establish  cer- 
tain general  regulations  for  the  administra- 
tion of  their  churches,  amongst  which  the 
following  are  most  worthy  of  notice : — "1. 
Poor  as  they  are  in  subjects,  for  the  ecclesi- 
astical state,  the  bishops  declare  that  they 
will  with  pleasure  permit  their  diocesans 
to  enter  either  the  regular  or  secular  orders 
to  which  they  may  deem  'hemselves  called. 
2.  They  forbid  any  translation  of  the  holy 
scriptures  to  be  inserted  in  prayer  books  ex- 
cept that  of  the  Doway  Bible.  3.  They  per- 
mit the  prayers  which  precede  and  follow 
the  essential  form  in  the  administration  of 
the  sacraments,  to  be  said  in  the  common 
tongue,  with  the  exception  of  the  mass, 
which  must  always  be  said  entirely  in 
Latin ;  but  they  forbid  the  use  of  any  ver- 
sion of  those  prayers  save  such  as  shall  be 
approved  by  all  the  bishops  of  the  province. 
4.  They  are  unwilling  that  the  vow  of  per- 
petual chastity  should  be  allowed  out  of  re- 
gular religious  associations,  5.  They  exhort 
all  pastors  of  souls  to  combat  incessantly  in 
both  public  and  private,  all  attachment  to 
diversions  dangerous  to  morals,  such  as  balls 
and  plays,  and  forbid  the  perusal  of  books 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  205 

calculated  to  weaken  faith  or  corrupt  virtue, 
particularly  romances.  6.  They  forbid  all 
priests  to  admit  to  the  sacraments  those 
whom  they  know  to  belong  to  the  society  of 
freemasons,  unless  they  have  obtained  from 
them  a  promise  of  ceasing  to  frequent  the 
lodges,  and  of  openly  proclaiming  that  they 
are  no  longer  members  of  the  society." 

Having  thus,  by  the  judicious  selection  of 
able  and  pious  men  to  fill  the  sees  which, 
at  his  request  and  recommendation,  the  holy 
father  had  granted  to  the  Catholic  Church 
of  the  United  States,  secured  its  best  inter- 
ests and  prosperity,  Archbishop  Carroll  de- 
voted himself  with  untiring  zeal  and  energy 
to  the  discharge  of  his  multifarious  and  heavy 
duties,  which  his  advanced  age  now  ren- 
dered doubly  onerous,  watching  with  zealous 
and  paternal  care  over  the  progress  of  that 
religion  of  which  he  was  truly  the  founder 
and  apostle  in  the  new  world  :  and  winning 
by  his  charity,  talents  and  edifying  virtues, 
the  veneration  and  respect  of  all,  without 
distinction  of  sect  or  opinion. 

The  evening  of  his  long  and  active  life 
was  rendered  still  more  calm  and  consoling 
to  him,  and  beautiful  to  his  friends,  by  the 
18 


206  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

sweet  conviction  of  the  rapid  increase  and 
cheering  prospects  of  the  Church  subject  to 
his  jurisdiction,  and  by  the  gratifying  feeling 
that  its  then  state  of  prosperity  and  promise 
was  mainly  owing,  under  God,  to  the  unex- 
ceptionable and  judicious  administration  of 
his  high  trust,  and  to  his  pious  and  liberal 
teaching  and  example. 

The  time  had  now  come  round  for  the 
closinjj  scene  of  his  labors  and  usefulness. 
Though  age  had  dealt  leniently  with  him, 
and  a  temperate  and  virtuous  life  had  se- 
cured for  him  a  comparatively  easy  passage 
to  the  tomb,  and  carried  him  with  robust 
health  through  fatigue  and  exposure,  yet  his 
cold  hand  was  upon  him,  and  the  universal 
debt  of  nature  was  to  be  paid.  Warned  of 
his  approaching  end,  the  venerable  prelate 
resigned  himself  with  christian  fortitude  to 
the  will  of  God,  and  confiding  in  the  prom- 
ises of  his  Divine  Redeemer,  which  he  had 
endeavored  to  secure  by  the  offering  of  a 
well-spent  life,  he  passed  gently  to  a  better 
world,  amid  the  tears  and  regrets  of  his 
relatives  and  friends,  and  of  a  large  and 
admiring  community,  on  Sunday,  the  3d  of 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  207 

December,  1815,  in  the  eightieth  year  of  his 
age. 

The  following  letter,  from  one  of  his  rela- 
tives, w^ritten  about  a  week  before  this  mel- 
ancholy event,  describes  feelingly  the  edify- 
ing conduct  of  the  suffering  prelate  through- 
out his  trial.  "  My  uncle,"  says  the  writer, 
"had  a  better  night  than  his  friends  and 
doctors  were  apprehensive  and  afraid  he 
would  have,  and  he  has  been  more  composed 
and  in  less  pain  all  day,  tlTan  he  was  yester- 
day. These  are  all  favorable  symptoms, 
but  the  physicians  do  not  think  that  they 
ought  to  shed  a  gleam  of  hope  upon  his  re- 
covery. Delusive  as  they  are,  however, 
they  are  all  infinitely  consoling  to  the  anx- 
ious and  solicitous  friends,  which,  it  would 
seem,  from  being  at  his  house  one  day,  in- 
cluded the  whole  population  of  Baltimore, 
who  are  constantly  calling  to  inquire  about, 
and  to  urge  for  permission  to  see  him.  His 
mind  is  as  vigorous  as  ever  it  was,  and 
whenever  any  person  goes  to  his  room,  you 
would  be  pleased  and  astonished  at  his 
readiness  in  adapting  his  conversation  and 
questions  to  the  situation  and  circumstances 
of  the  person  introduced.     At  times  he  is 


208  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

not  only  cheerful,  but  even  gay,  and  he  is 
never  impatient  or  fretful.  After  receiving 
the  last  sacraments,  which  were  adminis- 
tered in  a  very  solemn  manner,  all  the  cler- 
gymen and  young  ecclesiastics  of  the  town 
attending,  he  made  a  beautiful  and  pathetic 
address  of  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  to  them,  in 
a  firm  and  audible  voice,  perfectly  connected 
throughout  and  particularly  appropriate  to 
the  occasion." 

The  following"  interesting  notice  of  his 
death  and  character  is  from  the  pen  of  Rob- 
ert Walsh,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia. 

"  On  the  3d  of  December,  1815,  he  de- 
parted this  life  at  Baltimore,  in  the  eightieth 
year  of  his  age.  His  life  was  almost  at  the 
last  ebb,  and  his  surrounding  friends  were 
consulting  about  the  manner  of  his  inter- 
ment. It  was  understood  that  there  was  a 
book  in  his  library  which  prescribed  the 
proper  ceremonial,  and  it  was  ascertained  to 
be  in  the  very  chamber  in  which  he  then 
lay.  A  clergyman  went  as  softly  as  possi- 
ble into  the  chamber  in  search  of  it.  He 
did  not  find  it  immediately,  and  the  Arch- 
bishop heard  his  footsteps  in  the  room. 
Without  a  word  having  passed,  he  called  to 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  209 

the  clergyman,  and  told  him  that  he  knew 
what  he  was  looking  for;  that  he  would  find 
the  book  in  such  a  position  on  a  certain  shelf: 
and  there  it  was  accordingly  found.  When 
we  consider  that  the  prelate  was,  at  this 
moment,  fully  sensible  of  his  nearness  to 
the  tomb,  and  that  the  knowledge  that  his 
friends  were  searching  for  the  volume  which 
explained  the  established  mode  of  burial  for 
archbishops,  and  other  dignitaries  of  the 
Church,  was  above  all  things  calculated  to 
bring  fully  and  strongly  to  his  thoughts  the 
melancholy  and  gloomy  ideas  attendant 
upon  so  solemn  a  service,  and  those  ideas 
applicable  to  his  own  persoyi^  it  is  impossible 
to  restrain  our  admiration,  not  only  of  the 
clearness  and  precision  of  his  memory,  at 
the  age  of  eighty,  but  the  sublime  tranquillity 
of  his  spirit,  which  discoursed  of  mortality 
as  if  he  had  passed  its  limits,  and  regarded 
the  concerns  of  this  world  as  if  he  had 
already  become  an  inhabitant  of  the  other. 
"  We  may  be  permitted  to  pay  ourselves 
an  humble  and  direct  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  him  whose  society  we  had  so  often  the 
good  fortune  to  enjoy.  No  being  that  it  has 
been  our  lot  to  admire,  ever  inspired  us  with 
18* 


210  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

SO  much  reverence  as  Archbishop  Carroll. 
The  configuration  of  his  head,  his  whole 
mien,  bespoke  the  metropolite.  We  cannot 
easily  forget  the  impression  which  he  made, 
a  few  years  before  his  death,  upon  a  distin- 
guished literary  foreigner,  (of  Scotland)  who 
conversed  with  him  for  half  an  hour  imme- 
diately after  the  celebration  of  the  mass,  in 
his  parlor,  and  had  seen  the  most  imposing 
hierarchs  in  Great  Britain.  The  visiter 
seemed,  on  leaving  the  apartment,  to  be 
strongly  moved,  and  repeatedly  exclaimed, 
'  that  indeed  is  a  true  archbishop !'  The 
prelate  could  discourse  with  him  on  all  the 
leading  affairs  and  present  vicissitudes  of 
the  world,  with  equal  elegance  and  facility, 
in  Latin,  Italian  and  French  ;  with  the  most 
enlightened  and  liberal  philosophy;  blending 
dignity  with  suavity,  delicate  pleasantry 
with  the  grave  and  comprehensive  remark. 
Much  of  his  correspondence  was  conducted 
in  those  languages ;  he  wrote  them  not  less 
readily  and  tersely  than  his  own,  and  had 
few  equals  in  his  critical  knowledge  and 
employment  of  the  latter.  He  bore  his  su- 
perior faculties  and  acquirements,  his  well- 
improved  opportunities  of  information  and 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  211 

refinement,  abroad  and  at  home,  his  profes- 
sional rank  and  his  daily  honors,  we  will  not 
say  meekly,  but  so  courteously,  happily  and 
unaffectedly,  that  while  his  general  charac- 
ter restrained  in  others  all  propensity  to  in- 
decorum or  presumption,  his  presence  added 
to  every  one's  complacency,  and  produced  a 
universal  sentiment  of  earnest  kindness  to- 
wards the  truly  amiable  and  truly  exalted 
companion  and  instructor.  He  mingled  often 
with  gay  society,  relished  the  festivities  of 
polished  life,  and  the  familiar  intercourse  of 
both  clergy  and  laity  of  the  Protestant  de- 
nominations ;  and  it  was  this  expansion  of 
his  nature  and  the  simplicity  of  his  spirit 
and  carriage,  at  his  elevated  station  and  the 
sanctity  of  his  way,  that  drew  to  his  funeral 
a  greater  concourse,  comprising  more  real 
mourners,  than  had  ever  been  witnessed  in 
Baltimore,  on  a  similar  occasion,  filled  the 
streets  and  windows  with  sympathising  spec- 
tators, and  produced  as  vivid  a  sensation  in 
the  whole  body  of  Catholics  throughout  the 
union,  as  if  each  congregation  or  individual 
had  lost  the  dearest  of  immediate  pastors  or 
friends. 

"  He  was  wholly  free  from  guile,  uniformly 


212  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

frank,  generous  and  placable ;  he  reprobated 
all  intolerance,  and  when  accused,  in  the 
newspapers,  of  having  in  a  pastoral  letter 
'  excluded  from  the  honorable  appellation  of 
christians  all  that  were  not  within  the  pale 
of  his  Church,'  he  answered  by  the  same 
channel,  '  if  such  a  passage  can  be  pointed 
out,  he  (the  bishop)  will  be  the  first  to  con- 
demn it;  since  so  far  from  embracing  this 
opinion  as  an  article  of  his  faith,  he  holds  the 
doctrine  directly  contrary  to  be  that  of  his 
Church,  which  he  and  all  other  Catholics 
have  constantly  maintained  in  opposition  to 
the  tenets  of  some  pretended  Reformers.' 

"  The  archbishop's  patriotism  was  as  de- 
cided as  his  piety.  He  ranked  and  voted 
with  the  federal  party;  yet  he  entertained 
no  predilection  for  Great  Britain  or  her  gov- 
ernment. He  loved  republicanism;  and  so 
far  preferred  his  own  country,  that  if  ever  he 
could  be  excited  to  impatience  or  irritated, 
nothing  would  have  that  effect  more  cer- 
tainly, than  the  expression  of  the  slightest 
preference,  by  any  American  friend,  of  for- 
eign institutions  or  measures.  He  had  joined 
with  heart  and  judgment,  in  the  revolution ; 
he  retained  without  abatement  of  confidence 


MOST  REV,  JOHN  CARROLL.  213 

or  favor,  the  cardinal  principles  and  Ameri- 
can sympathies  and  hopes,  upon  which  he 
then  acted." 

The  papers  of  the  day  were  replete  with 
expressions  of  profound  sorrow,  and  eloquent 
with  eulogy  of  the  deceased  prelate.  His 
loss  was  indeed  one  that  went  to  the  heart 
of  a  large  community.  The  influence  of  his 
examples,  and  the  greenness  of  his  memory 
survive,  and  the  study  of  his  life  is  pregnant 
with  interest  and  instruction.  His  death 
was,  as  his  life,  edifying  and  consoling,  for 
none  of  the  many  who  crowded  weeping 
round  his  couch,  when  the  immortal  spirit  of 
the  good  and  just  minister  of  God  winged  its 
flight  to  the  fruition  of  its  hopes  and  aspira- 
tions, but  envied  so  calm  and  pious  a  conclu- 
sion of  a  long  and  honorable  career,  and  left 
the  solemn  scene  chastened  and  improved. 

The  following  extracts  from  contempora- 
neous journals  will  afford  some  idea  of  the 
character  of  the  archbishop,  and  of  the  pub- 
lic grief  on  this  melancholy  occasion. 

"  The  closing  ceremonies  with  which  the 
body  of  the  late  Archbishop  Carroll  was 
entombed  on  Tuesday,  brought  together  a 
greater  crowd  than  we  have  witnessed  on  a 


214  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

similar  occasion.  The  great,  and  the  rich, 
and  the  poor,  and  the  lowly,  assembled  to 
pay  the  last  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory 
of  this  good  and  illustrious  prelate.  The 
chapel  which  has  been  so  long  cherished  by 
his  fostering  care,  w^as  crowded  at  an  early 
hour,  and  the  nmltitude,  who  assembled 
without,  seemed  rather  to  indicate  that  some 
great  public  ceremony  was  to  be  performed, 
or  some  national  calamity  to  be  deplored. 

"  The  corpse  of  the  venerable  archbishop, 
which  had  laid  in  state  since  the  preceding 
Sunday,  was  now  enclosed  in  the  coffin,  sur- 
mounted by  his  mitre  and  pastoral  crozier, 
and  surrounded  by  those  emblems  which  unite 
the  fancy  with  the  heart  in  solemn  devotion. 
After  the  celebration  of  high  mass,  the  pro- 
cession moved  through  Saratoga  and  Franklin 
streets  to  the  chapel  of  the  seminary,  which 
was  designated  as  the  place  of  interment. 
We  have  never  witnessed  a  funeral  proces- 
sion where  so  many  of  eminent  respectability 
and  standing  among  us,  followed  the  train  of 
mourners.  Distinctions  of  ranks,  of  w^ealth, 
of  religious  opinion,  were  laid  aside  in  the 
great  testimony  of  respect  to  the  memory 
of  the  man.     Besides  the  numerous  crowd 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  215 

that  filled  the  procession,  the  windows  were 
thronged  with  spectators.  The  funeral  ser- 
vice for  the  dead  was  performed  at  the 
chapel  of  the  seminary,  and  the  mind  al- 
ready penetrated  with  regret  and  deep  sor- 
row, felt  the  effect  of  those  religious  cere- 
monies, which  performed  in  the  same  manner 
and  chanted  in  the  same  language  and  tone 
of  voice,  through  succeeding  ages,  bring  to- 
gether the  remotest  periods  of  eighteen  hun- 
dred years,  and  present  to  the  mind  some 
faint  image  of  eternal  duration. 

"  The  deep  tones  of  the  organ,  and  the 
solemn  chants  of  the  choristers,  seemed  to 
the  excited  feeling  not  to  belong  to  this 
world,  but  to  be  the  welcome  of  good  spirits 
who  had  gone  before,  and  now  solemnly 
saluted  him  who  descended  through  the 
tomb  to  the  bar  of  eternal  justice,  to  receive 
the  reward  apportioned  to  a  good  and  faith- 
ful servant. 

"  According  to  the  particular  disposition  of 
every  one,  we  heard  the  venerable  archbishop 
praised  and  lamented.  The  extent  of  his 
knowledge  and  the  enlargement  of  his  mind, 
fastened  upon  the  men  of  liberal  science. 
The  liberality  of  his  character,  and  his  chris- 


216  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

tian  charity,  endeared  him  to  his  Protestant 
brethren,  with  whom  he  dwelt  in  brotherly 
lov^e.  He  was  a  patriot  and  loved  his  native 
land,  nor  should  Americans  forget  that  his 
exertions  and  benedictions  as  a  man,  and  as 
a  christian  prelate,  were  given  to  the  cause 
and  independence  of  his  country. 

"  His  manners  were  mild,  impressive  and 
urbane.  The  various  stores  of  knowledge 
came  from  his  lips  with  uncommon  classical 
grace  and  richness,  which  he  gained  from  a 
perfect  acquaintance  with  ancient  languages 
and  literature.  His  charities  were  only 
bounded  by  his  means,  and  they  fell  around 
him  like  the  dew^s  of  heaven,  gentle  and  un- 
seen. To  those  who  stood  not  in  need  of  the 
comforts  of  life,  he  administered  the  consola- 
tion of  his  counsel;  and  the  weight  of  his 
character  and  his  reputation  for  erudition 
and  profound  good  sense,  gave  an  authority 
to  his  advice  which  the  proudest  scarcely 
dared  to  disregard.  The  veil  of  mourning 
which  hid  the  tears  of  the  afflicted,  covered 
many  a  heart  not  of  his  own  particular  flock, 
which  felt  that  it  lost  an  inestimable  friend. 

"  The  character  of  Archbishop  Carroll 
seemed  indeed  to  be  filled  up  with  wonder- 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  217 

ful  care.  He  viewed  the  manners  of  differ- 
ent nations,  saw  the  courts  of  kings  and  the 
meetings  of  philosophers,  and  added  the  lib- 
erality of  a  true  philosopher  and  the  accom- 
plishments of  a  gentleman,  to  the  apostolic 
dignity  of  his  calling.  Temptation  drew 
forth  the  purity  of  his  virtue,  and  like 
Shadrach,  he  walked  erect  in  the  flames. 
He  early  marked  the  rise  of  the  baneful 
meteor  of  French  philosophy.  But  he  ga- 
thered his  spiritual  children  under  his  wings, 
and  protected  them  in  security.  He  was 
permitted  to  witness  a  great  revival  of 
religion,  and  in  the  abundant  prosperity  of 
his  particular  church,  to  reap  the  harvest  of 
his  toil,  and  labor  of  his  life. 

"  When  he  was  called  to  receive  the  re- 
ward of  his  many  virtues,  the  excellence  of 
his  character  shone  forth  with  fresher  lustre, 
as  he  gradually  sunk,  like  the  sun,  in  mel- 
lowed splendor.  So  death,  as  if  fearfully, 
attacked  him  with  slow  and  cautious  ap- 
proaches. The  paralysis,  and  consequent 
mortification  of  the  lower  extremities,  was 
complete  before  his  icy  touch  ventured  to 
chill  the  heart,  and  even  until  the  last  mo- 
ment the  noble  faculties  of  the  mind  retained 
19 


218  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

their  pristine  vigor.  He  enquired  if  a  con- 
veyance was  prepared  to  take  away  his  sis- 
ter, and  weeping  connexions :  told  them  the 
scene  was  about  to  close,  and  requested 
them  to  take  rest  and  nourishment.  He 
gave  them  his  benediction,  turned  his  head 
aside,  and  expired.  His  countenance  re- 
tained in  death  the  benignant  expression  of 
life.  His  piety  grew  warmer  as  life  closed, 
and  the  fire  of  religious  hope,  was  elevated 
almost  to  enthusiasm.  '  Sir,'  he  said  to  an 
eminent  Protestant  divine,  who  observed 
that  his  hopes  were  now  fixed  on  another 
world, — '  sir,  my  hopes  have  always  been 
fixed  on  the  cross  of  Christ.' 

"  Yet  humility  tempered  his  confidence, 
and  while  a  numerous  circle  surrounding  his 
bed  of  death,  were  transported  with  venera- 
tion at  the  moral  sublimity  of  his  last  mo- 
ments, and  his  joyous  expectation  of  a 
speedy  release,  he  called  to  his  friend  and 
associate  to  read  to  him  the  'Miserere  me 
Deus,' — Have  mercy  on  me,  O  Lord !  Re- 
versing the  wish  of  Vespasian,  he  desired, 
were  it  practicable,  to  be  placed  on  the  floor, 
so  that  he  might  expire  in  the  posture  of  the 
deepest    humility,   as   a    christian    martyr, 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  219 

and  an  humble  suppliant  to  an  interceding 
Saviour. 

"  How  do  the  boasted  glories  of  philoso- 
phers fade  before  the  death  of  such  a  man  ! 
Socrates  died  with  a  cheerless  and  unknown 
futurity  before  him.  Cato's  indignant  son 
spurned  the  yoke  of  imperial  Caesar,  and 
Seneca  opened  his  veins,  and  calmly  dis- 
coursed of  philosophy  as  life  ebbed  with  the 
purple  tide ;  but  it  was  not  theirs  to  know 
the  hope  of  a  christian,  that  hope  which 
springs  from  a  life  of  virtue  and  a  pious  soul, 
and  which  changes  the  tomb  into  the  tri- 
umphal arch,  through  which  the  pilgrim 
passes  into  joyful  eternity." 

Another  Baltimore  paper  indulges  in  the 
following  beautiful  and  glowing  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  the  deceased  prelate. 

"  His  manners  and  deportment,"  says  the 
writer,  "in  private  life,  were  a  model  of 
clerical  character,  dignified,  yet  simple;  pious, 
but  not  austere.  This  secured  him  the  af- 
fectionate attachment  of  his  friends  and  the 
respect  of  all. 

"  In  him  religion  assumed  its  most  attrac- 
tive and  amiable  form,  and  his  character 
conciliated  for  the  body  over  which  he  pre- 


■^20  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE 

sided,  respect  and  consideration,  from  the 
liberal,  the  enlightened  of  all  ranks  and  de- 
nominations; for  they  saw  that  his  life  ac- 
corded with  the  benign  doctrines  of  that 
religion  which  he  professed. 

"  The  members  of  his  own  church,  to 
whom  he  was  in  truth  a  guide  and  a  father, 
who  daily  witnessed  the  kindness,  the  bene- 
ficence, and  the  tenderness  of  his  heart,  who 
in  the  purity  of  his  doctrines  and  precepts, 
saw  the  purity  of  his  own  unsullied  charac- 
ter, who  saw  him  on  his  death-bed,  with  the 
meekness,  the  patience  and  the  cheerfulness 
of  a  saint  and  martyr,  view  the  sure  and 
rapid  approaches  of  his  own  dissolution,  con- 
cerned not  for  himself,  but  anxious  only  for 
the  welfare  of  those  whom  he  was  so  soon 
to  leave,  will  long  remember  him  with  the 
most  profound  heart-felt  grief,  gratitude  and 
veneration. 

"He  taught  us  how  to  live,  and  ah!  too  high 
The  price  of  knowledge,  taught  us  how  to  die." 

"  Death,  the  terrors  of  which  he  had  so 
often  dispelled  from  the  minds  of  others, 
had  no  powers  to  disturb  his  serene  and 
tranquil  soul — but  long  will   his   bereaved 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CARROLL.  221 

and  disconsolate  flock  mourn  the  loss  of  him 
who  was  the  succor  and  support  of  the 
wretched,  who,  when  this  world  could  afford 
them  nothing  on  which  to  lean,  turned  to 
him  for  consolation  as  their  spiritual  father. 

''  Long  will  the  poor  mourn  for  one  who 
always  relieved  their  wants  to  the  utmost 
extent  of  his  means,  and  even  extended  his 
care  of  them  beyond  the  bound  of  his  own 
existence.  They  will  long  weep  for  him 
who  watched  and  wept,  who  prayed  and 
felt  for  all. 

"  Those  helpless  orphan  children,  to  whom 
he  was  indeed  a  father,  and  who  flocked 
around  him  dying,  to  receive  his  last  advice 
and  blessing,  may  well  weep,  for  their  loss  is 
irreparable. 

"  His  Church  may  well  mourn,  for  her  loss 
is  incalculable." 


19* 


APPENDIX. 


JOURNAL  OF  A  TOUR  IN  COMPANY  WITH  THE  HON.  MR.  (AFTER- 
WARDS lord)  STOURTON.       by  the  rev.  J.  CARROLL. 

The  province  of  Alsace,  one  of  the  most  fer- 
tile in  Europe,  after  having  been  for  many 
years  in  the  possession  of  the  house  of  Aus- 
tria, was  ceded  to  France  by  the  treaty  of 
Munster,  in  the  year  1648.  As  the  govern- 
ment exercised  by  the  Austrian  family  was 
subject  to  several  restrictions,  on  account  of 
the  privileges  claimed  by  the  inhabitants,  so 
the  cession  of  it  to  France  met  with  many 
difficulties.  Besides  Strasbourg,  which  was 
not  comprehended  in  the  treaty  of  cession, 
there  were  ten  imperial  towns  governed  by 
their  own  magistrates,  and  immediately  sub- 
ject to  the  empire.  One  of  these  was  Col- 
mar.  These  towns,  as  well  as  the  dukes  of 
Wurtemberg,  Deux  Fonts,  and  others,  who 
had  fiefs  or  possessions  in  Alsace,  immedi- 
ately relevant  of  the  empire,  insisted  that 
the  house  of  Austria  could  not  transfer  the 


224  APPENDIX. 

sovereignty  of  the  whole  province,  since  it 
liad  itself  never  been  possessed  of  it.  They 
demanded  that  the  imperial  towns,  their  dis- 
tricts, and  the  above  mentioned  fiefs  should 
retain  their  privileges  and  relevancy  of  the 
empire.  The  matter  was  left  in  a  kind  of 
ambiguity  at  the  conclusion  of  the  peace ; 
but  France  being  put  in  possession  of  the 
province,  would  not  allow  any  favor  to  these 
pretensions,  nor  admit  there  was  any  ambi- 
guity in  the  treaty;  and  Strasbourg  being 
surrendered  to  France  in  1681,  the  full  and 
entire  sovereignty  was  confirmed  to  that 
crown  by  the  treaty  of  Reswick.  It  still 
however  retains  some  of  its  former  usages. 
The  Roman  law  is  followed  in  the  courts  of 
judicature ;  even  where  it  is  contrary  to  the 
ordinances  of  the  kings  of  France,  if  you  ex- 
cept some  few  which  existed  since  the  ces- 
sion of  Alsace  and  registered  in  the  provin- 
cial court  of  judicature. 

The  court  held  at  Colmar  is  called,  le 
Conseil  Souverain  d^ Alsace,  and  differs  from 
the  different  parliaments  of  the  kingdom.  It 
consists  of  a  first  and  second  president,  and 
of  twenty-four  judges,  called  conseillers. 
They  are  divided  into  two  chambers,  each 


APPENDIX.  225 

presided  by  a  president.  There  are  besides 
an  attorney  and  two  advocates  general. 
The  attorney  general  (procureur  general) 
has  very  great  authority  in  the  province. 
He  has  an  inspection  over  every  part,  is 
charged  to  prosecute  all  breaches  of  the 
peace,  to  inform  of  all  abuses,  to  receive  and 
lay  before  the  conseil  all  complaints,  to  dis- 
charge the  king's  trust  of  guardianship  of 
orphans,  &c. 

The  counsellors  sit  in  the  first  and  second 
chambers,  annually,  by  rotation ;  but  the  first 
president  and  dean  of  the  council  always  re- 
main, the  former  in  the  first  chamber  and  the 
latter  in  the  other.  They  sit  every  day, 
Sundays  and  holidays  excepted.  Three 
days  in  the  week,  each  chamber  gives  audi- 
ence, that  is,  hears  and  determines  causes  by 
the  pleadings  of  the  lawyers,  whilst  the 
other  judges  those  matters  which  are  discus- 
sed in  writing.  In  all  causes,  which  any 
wise  affect  the  king,  or  where  minors,  corpo- 
rations, &c.  are  concerned,  after  hearing  the 
arguments  of  the  respective  lawyers,  one  of 
the  advocates  general  resumes  what  has 
been  urged  on  each  side,  delivers  and  en- 
forces his  opinion  on  the  matter,  and  pro- 


226  APPENDIX. 

poses  it  to  be  adopted  by  the  court.  When 
the  advocate  general  is  a  man  of  much  ex- 
perience or  considerable  abilities,  his  opinion 
has  great  weight,  but  at  present  neither  of 
them,  any  more  than  the  attorney  general, 
enjoys  much  reputation  for  knowledge. 

This  may  appear  extraordinary  to  an 
Englishman,  since  with  us  it  is  a  certain 
mark  of  great  eminence  in  the  law  to  be 
raised  to  the  rank  of  king's  council.  But 
this  surprise  will  vanish,  when  it  is  consid- 
ered that  the  charges  of  judicature  in  France 
are  considered  saleable ;  and  that  they  are 
transmitted  as  an  inheritance  from  father  to 
son,  dependently  on  some  trifling  duty  on 
their  passing  from  one  to  another.  The 
money  delivered  Xor  a  charge  is  not  so  pro- 
perly alienated,  as  placed  out  at  interest ; 
originally  the  king  paid  four  or  five  per  cent, 
but  at  present  the  charges  are  very  irregu- 
lar. When  the  charges  were  fixed,  those  of 
judge  or  counsellor  were  rated  at  ten  or 
twelve  thousand  livres,  and  the  king  received 
no  more  for  them.  But  at  present  they  are 
valued  at  twenty-four  thousand  livres,  and 
sometimes  sold  for  more.  They  are  con- 
sidered as  a  patrimonial  fund,  may  be  mort- 


APPENDIX.  227 

gaged,  or  given  in  fortune  to  a  daughter.  It 
is  said  that  many  of  those  in  Alsace  are 
loaned  to  the  Jews,  who  swarm  throughout 
the  province. 

An  inconvenience  arising  from  the  sale  of 
offices  is,  that  the  judges  in  general  are  not 
the  most  proper  to  determine  matters  of  law 
and  equity.  A  young  man,  who  has  fortune 
enough,  need  but  spend  a  few  months  at  the 
university  of  Strasbourg,  take  his  degree  of 
licentiate,  which  is  granted  without  diffi- 
culty, present  himself  at  the  bar  of  Colmar, 
to  be  admitted  advocate,  and  he  is  instantly 
qualified  to  be  a  counsellor.  The  venality 
introduced  by  Louis  XII.,  Francis  I.,  and  the 
succeeding  kings  of  France,  occasioned  this 
great  abuse,  which  calls  aloud  for  redress. 

When  the  king  sends  to  the  council  any 
new  ordinance  to  be  published,  or  when  any 
regulation  of  police  concerning  the  province 
is  to  be  made,  the  two  chambers  are  assem- 
bled together,  and  every  thing  is  determined 
by  the  majority  of  votes. 

Strasbourg  retained  many  privileges,  when 
it  submitted  to  France.  The  magistracy 
can  determine  finally  and  without  appeal, 
all  suits  not  exceeding  a  certain  value,  and 


228  APPENDIX. 

is,  I  am  told,  the  only  town  under  the  crown 
of  France,   where   the   intervention  of  the 
royal  judges  is  not  necessary  to  condemn  a 
criminal  to  death.     The  free  exercise  of  reli- 
gion is  allowed  to  Lutherans  in  the  greatest 
part  of  the  Province.     The  town  magistracy 
and  all  municipal  employments  of  Strasbourg, 
Colmar,  &c.,  are  divided  between  them  and 
the  Catholics.     But  the  latter  only  are  ad- 
mitted to  exercise  any  function  whatever  in 
the  supreme  council,  and  in  general  all  the 
king's  officers  are  of  the  reigning  religion. 
The  number  of  Lutherans  has  encreased  con- 
siderably since  their  subjection  to  France, 
though  they  enjoyed  great  credit  during  the 
administration  of  the  Duke  of  Choisel,  and 
in  contested  points  had  generally  more  influ- 
ence than  the  Catholics.     They  are  said  to 
be  secretly  very  averse  to  the  French  gov- 
ernment, and  firmly  attached  to  the  house  of 
Austria,  or  rather  to  the  empire.     If  they  do 
not  reconcile  themselves  with  the  Church,  it 
does  not  proceed  from  any  great  zeal  for 
their  own  tenets  ;  they  are  mostly  latitudina- 
rians  in  religion,  but  bred  up  in  a  strong 
aversion  to  Catholicity. 

The  inhabitants  are  industrious  and  gene- 


APPENDIX.  229 

rally   live   comfortably.     Property   is   very 
much   diffused,  children  inheriting   of  their 
parents  in  equal  shares.     There  is  scarce  a 
fortune  in  Alsace  exceeding  thirty  thousand 
livres  per  annum,  except  the  great  estates 
possessed  by  the  Bishop  of  Strasbourg,  and 
some  sovereign   princes  of  Germany,   w^ho 
have  fiefs  in  this  province.     Most  of  the  coun- 
sellors of  Colmar  are  poor,  and  he  is  thought 
to  be  in  good  circumstances,  who  has  four  or 
five  thousand  livres  per  annum,  which  few 
of  them  are  possessed  of.     Nothwithstand- 
ing  this,  and  the  low  birth  of  many  amongst 
them,  they  affect  to  be  haughty  and  super- 
cilious.    The  general  character  of  the  people 
is  want  of  courtesy  and  affability.     The  men 
and  women  of  fashion  dress  after  the  French 
mode ;  but  the  women  of  inferior  rank,  and 
most  of  the  Lutherans  plait  their  hair  in 
ringlets  upon  their  heads. 

The  entire  province  is  amazingly  fertile, 
and  one  of  the  most  agreeable  a  spectator 
can  behold.  It  is  separated  in  its  whole 
length  from  Lorraine  by  a  chain  of  moun- 
tains, which  are  covered  with  firs.  A  beau- 
tiful plain  about  five  leagues  broad  extends 
quite  to  the  Rhine.  The  plain  is  w^atered 
20 


230  APPENDIX. 

by  several  rivers  springing  from  the  moun- 
tains; it  produces  amazing  crops  of  all  kinds 
of  grain,  and  the  sides  of  the  mountains,  as 
well  as  some  parts  of  the  plain,  are  covered 
with  vineyards,  which  yield  an  agreeable 
table  wine.     The  taste  of  it  resembles  that 
of  Moselle.     Grain  and  wine  are  the  chief 
articles  of  exportation,  great  quantities  of 
both  being  sent  into  Switzerland.    We  were 
in  Colmar  after  two  different  crops,  and  three 
or  four  very  bad  vintages,  and  too  large  a 
quantity  of  corn  had  been  exported.     The 
price  of  wheat  at  a  medium  was  twenty-six 
livres  the  sack,  weighing  one  hundred  and 
seventy  pounds,  and  of  the  middle  sort  of 
wine,  six  sous  the  bottle.  The  roads  through 
the  whole  province  are  excellent,  and  kept 
in  perfect  repair.     The  inspection  over  them 
belongs   to   the   intendant,   who   resides  at 
Strasbourg,  and  has  great  authority.     He  is 
properly   the   person   of  confidence   of  the 
court;  the  detail  and  levy  of  taxes  is  com- 
mitted to  his  care;  the  municipal  officers  of 
the  towns  must  be  approved,  and  in  effect, 
appointed  by  him;  all  secret  orders  of  the 
court  are  transmitted  to  him,  and  he  is  en- 
trusted with  their  execution.     The  method 


APPENDIX.  231 

of  keeping  the  roads  in  repair  is  this :  Each 
town  and  village,  through  which  they  pass, 
has  a  certain  number  of  roads  allotted  to  its 
care,  and  the  inhabitants  choose  the  season 
in  which  they  are  least  employed  in  agricul- 
ture to  make  the  necessary  reparations. 
This  dispenses  them  from  the  necessity  of 
turnpikes. 

There  are  no  manufactures  of  conse- 
quence in  the  province ;  great  quantities  of 
cloth  are  imported  from  Abbeville,  Sedan 
and  England.  These  latter  are  landed  at 
Ostend,  and  sent  from  thence  to  Brussels, 
whence  they  are  transported  in  wagons 
through  the  Ardennes  and  Lorraine.  I  was 
told  likewise  that  considerable  imports  of 
other  English  manufactures  were  made  clan- 
destinely from  Geneva,  Switzerland,  and  the 
other  side  of  the  Rhine,  as  well  into  this  as 
the  neighboring  provinces  of  Lorraine  and 
Tranche  Comt6.  Perhaps  our  political  wri- 
ters do  not  know  this,  when  they  make  the 
balance  of  our  trade  with  France  so  much 
against  us.  The  country  is  full  of  large  and 
well  peopled  villages,  besides  the  many  pop- 
ulous towns ;  Strasbourg  is  the  chief  The 
noble   Cathedral   and  its  remarkable  high 


232  APPENDIX. 

tower  is  famous  through  Europe.   The  bishop 
has  a  grand  palace,  built  by  Cardinal  Rohan, 
the  first  of  that  family  who  enjoyed  this  see. 
Nothing  pleased  me  more  than  the  admirable 
o^ilding  of  the  stucco  work  of  the  ceilings. 
The  bishop  has  another  still  more  magnifi- 
cent palace,  though   not   entirely  built,   at 
Taverne,  about  nine  leagues  from  Strasbourg. 
Adjoining   to   it   are    large   gardens    finely 
planted,  and  in  front  of  the  palace  a  canal 
two  leagues  long,  terminated  by  a  well  built 
village.     It  has  a  fine  eflfect  to  the  eye  though 
it  would  in  my  opinion  be  more  agreeable, 
if  it  were  serpentine.     On  both  sides  of  the 
canal  is  a  fine  walk  shaded  with  trees. 

The  military  government  of  the  province 
is  under  a  marshal  of  France,  who  resides  at 
Strasbourg,  where  there  is  generally  a  gar- 
rison of  ten  thousand  men.  There  are  many 
strong  places  in  the  province ;  in  Upper  Al- 
sace, Befort,  Huninghen  and  New  Brisach, 
on  the  Rhine ;  Schlestat  near  the  centre  of 
the  province,  Strasbourg,  Landan  and  Fort 
Louis  in  Lower  Alsace. 

The  increase  of  population  is  so  great,  that 
I  heard  from  the  rector  of  a  parish,  that 
there  had  been  an  augmentation  of  forty  fa- 


APPENDIX.  233 

milies  in  his  village  within  twenty-five  years. 
I  do  not  suppose  this  enormous  increase  to 
be  general  throughout  the  province,  and  in 
the  above  mentioned  village  it  must  have 
been  owing  to  some  accidental  circumstance 
which  drew  strangers  thither.  But  I  found 
in  general,  on  the  best  information  I  could 
obtain,  that  in  time  of  peace,  the  inhabitants 
multiply  very  fast.  When  France  is  at  war, 
the  province  furnishes  an  immense  number 
of  recruits  for  the  army.  It  is  supposed, 
that  during  the  last  war  they  amounted  to 
twenty  thousand  men. 

I  find  however,  in  the  remonstrances  pre- 
sented to  the  king  in  the  year  1764,  by  the 
supreme  council  of  Colmar,  heavy  complaints 
of  the  visible  depopulation  of  the  country, 
and  of  the  bad  state  of  agriculture,  which 
they  attribute  to  enormous  taxes,  and  still 
more  to  the  abuse  committed  in  levying  them. 
I  am  inclined  to  believe  there  is  great  exag- 
geration in  these  remonstrances ;  the  coun- 
sellor, who  was  charged  to  draw  them  up,  is 
said  to  have  had  some  particular  resentments 
to  gratify  ;  and  certainly  the  flourishing  state 
of  agriculture  in  1770  and  1771,  is  a  proof 
that  it  was  far  from  the  deplorable  condition 
20* 


234  APPENDIX. 

in  which  it  was  represented  in  1764.  Much 
is  left  to  the  arbitrary  determination  of  a 
commissary  appointed  to  fix  the  quotas  of  the 
taxable.  For  instance,  the  tax  of  the  ving- 
tieme,  or  twentieth  penny,  is  raised  in  such  a 
manner,  that  it  really  becomes  a  fifth  or 
sixth.  Innumerable  other  abuses  in  raising 
the  kings  revenues,  are  placed  in  a  strong 
light  in  the  remonstrances,  and  certainly  de- 
serve redress,  the  more  so,  as  they  tend  to 
the  king's  manifest  prejudice.  For  instance, 
during  the  years  1760,  1761,  1762  and  1763, 
(I  could  find  no  materials  of  a  more  ancient 
date)  the  king's  exchequer  did  not  receive 
two  thirds  of  the  revenue  raised  in  Alsace. 

The  different  impositions  under  the  names 
of  subvention,  epis  du  Rhin,  cajntation,  su- 
plement  aux  gages,  abonnemtnt  de  Courtiers, 
(fee,  solde  de  milice,  pepiniere,  milices,  gardes 
cotes:  1st,  2d  and  troisieme  vingtieme, four- 
rages,  fraix  commwis,  comptes  de  communau- 
tes  et  villes,  dons  gratuits,  impots  sur  les  cuirs, 
les  tabacs,  &c.,  yielded  in  1764,  liv.  3,  899, 
540^J2^,8:|,  and  the  king's  coffers  received  no 
more  than  2,177.15^,17^^0. 

I  cannot  be  so  particular  with  regard  to 
the  province  of  Lorraine,  though  we  saw  a 


APPENDIX. 


235 


great  part  of  it.     It  is  much  larger  than  Al- 
sace, I  believe  nearly  double,  but  not  so  gen- 
erally fertile.     Great  part  of  it  is  not  fit  to 
bear   wheat,  but  produces   oats  in   plenty. 
This  province  for  a  long  series  of  years  en- 
joyed its  own  princes,  separate  in   govern- 
ment, and  mostly  in  politics  and  inclination, 
from  France.     In  the   wars,  which   for  so 
many  years  raged   between   that  kingdom 
and  the  house  of  Austria,  Lorraine  almost 
always  took  part  with  the  latter,  and  when 
it  did  not  openly,  was  still  viewed  with  a 
jealous  eye  by  the  former.     After  the  ces- 
sion of  Alsace  to  Louis  XIV.,  the  situation 
of  Lorraine   became    more   critical,   as   its 
communication   with   the   empire  was  ren- 
dered extremely  difficult.     From  that  time, 
it    was   apparent    that    sooner   or  later   it 
would  fall  under  the  dominion   of  France. 
This   event   took   place  in   the   year   1737. 
Francis,  Duke  of  Lorraine,  having  married 
Mary    Teresa,    daughter  of   the    Emperor 
Charles,  and  heiress  to  the  Austrian  domin- 
ions, found   himself  under   the  necessity  of 
making  over  his  paternal  dutchy  to  France  : 
he  received  as  an  indemnification  the  grand 
dutchy  of  Tuscany  in  Italy,  which  is  now 


236  APPENDIX. 

possessed    by    his    second    son,    Archduke 
Leopold. 

This  cession  was  a  terrible  heart  break- 
ing- to  the  Lorrainers.  They  had  enjoyed  a 
long  series  of  benevolent  princes,  and  espe- 
cially Leopold,  the  immediate  predecessor  of 
Francis,  had  been  rather  the  father  than  a 
sovereign  of  his  subjects.  Indeed,  the  pas- 
sage from  the  dominion  of  their  national 
princes  to  that  of  France,  was  softened  by 
their  first  becoming  subject  to  Stanislaus, 
king  of  Poland.  For  it  was  stipulated  in 
the  peace  of  1737,  that  Lorraine  should  be 
ceded  to  this  prince  during  his  life,  and  af- 
terwards devolve  to  France.  Stanislaus 
undoubtedly  had  so  many  benevolent  quali- 
ties, so  much  zeal  for  the  interest  and  hap- 
piness of  his  subjects,  that  he  would  have 
made  them  entirely  easy  under  his  govern- 
ment, if  he  could  have  removed  the  prospect 
of  their  future  devolution  to  France,  or  if 
any  compensation  could  be  made  to  men  of 
liberal  understandings,  for  transferring  them 
without  their  consent  or  concurrence,  like 
so  many  slaves,  from  dominion  to  dominion. 
He  beautified  Nancy,  their  capital,  making 
it  one  of  the  finest  towns  in  Europe  ;  he  in- 


APPENDIX.  237 

stituted  noble  foundations  for  the  relief  of 
his  subjects,  without  any  detriment  to  their 
industry ;  he  encouraged  all  the  fine  arts ; 
he  propagated  by  his  example  and  authority, 
a  true  spirit  of  religion,  which  he  knew  to 
be  the  best  foundation  of  political  as  well  as 
future  happiness.  He  maintained  at  the 
same  time  a  splendid  court ;  and  what  is 
most  remarkable,  performed  so  many  great 
things  with  a  revenue,  which  would  hardly 
suffice  for  the  hunting  parties  of  many  sove- 
reign princes.  As  far  as  he  was  above 
meanness,  (no  prince  ever  carried  into  his 
expenses  nobler  or  more  extensive  views  of 
public  good,)  with  so  strict  an  economy  did 
he  administer  his  little  revenues ;  and  he 
ought  in  every  age  to  be  held  out  to  princes, 
as  the  Man  of  Ross  is  by  our  great  poet,  to 
private  fortune,  for  an  example  of  what 
great  things  may  be  done  by  small  sums,  by 
a  prudent  and  an  active  zeal. 

This  amiable  and  beneficent  prince  would 
have  done  still  more  for  the  prosperity  of  his 
subjects,  had  he  been  full  master  of  his  own 
actions.  But  a  few  years  after  the  cession 
made  to  him  of  Lorraine,  he  was  constrained 
through  his  dependence  on  France,  to  the 


238  APPENDIX. 

levying  and  imposing  of  taxes,  and  consented 
to  receive  a  determined  amount;  I  have  not 
now  by  me  some  memorials  I  iiad  on  the 
subject,  and  do  not  remember  the  precise 
sum;  but  the  consequence  of  this  transac- 
tion was  that  Lorraine  became  taxed  much 
heavier  than  it  had  ever  been  under  its  own 
princes,  which  circumstance  contributed  to 
render  their  memory  dearer.  If  we  may 
credit  those  wlio  remember  the  former  gov- 
ernment, the  difference  between  the  present 
and  past  way  of  life  of  the  farmer  and  la- 
borer, is  enormous ;  his  clothing,  his  food, 
every  necessary  of  life,  is  infinitely  worse 
than  heretofore.  But  these  complaints  are 
so  much  the  style  of  every  country,  and  par- 
ticularly of  elderly  people,  that  I  cannot 
tell  what  credit  they  deserve.  In  some  re- 
spects, I  cannot  help  thinking  the  circum- 
stances of  this  country  greatly  bettered  by 
its  becoming  subject  to  France.  As  long  as 
it  was  governed  by  its  own  princes,  they 
generally  took  part  with  the  Austrians,  as 
was  intimated  before.  By  this  means,  Lor- 
raine was  almost  always  exposed  to  the  in- 
cursions of  the  French  armies,  and  their 
enormous  contributions.     It  was  surrounded 


APPENDIX.  239 

by  provinces  subject  to  other  princes,  and 
thus  its  imports  and  exports  were  liable  to 
impositions  which  necessarily  prevented  all 
growth  or  extension  of  trade.  The  natural 
productions  of  the  country,  particularly  the 
wine-growing  in  the  dutchy  of  Bar,  must 
necessarily  have  been  a  very  uncertain  reve- 
nue, since  the  vent  of  it  abroad  w^as  so  pre- 
carious, and  dependent  on  the  good  pleasure 
of  the  neighboring  states.  Whereas,  at  pre- 
sent, Lorraine  having  become  a  French  pro- 
vince, is  under  no  other  restraint  than  the 
rest  of  the  kingdom.  The  produce  of  its 
vines  and  fields  enjoys  a  free  circulation  : 
the  ingenuity  and  industry  of  its  inhabitants 
find  an  easy  vent  for  their  commodities  ;  and 
the  strong  frontiers,  with  which  France  is 
on  every  side  secured  against  hostile  inva- 
sions, leave  the  Lorrainer  no  other  rapine  to 
fear,  than  that  of  the  merciless  publican. 

Justice  is  administered  in  this  province,  as 
in  the  others  of  France,  bv  a  sovereign 
court,  consisting  of  a  first  and  another  or 
more  presidents,  and  a  number  of  judges 
called  conseillers.  The  court  or  parliament 
of  Lorraine  is  different,  however,  in  its  con- 
stitution from  the  rest  in  this  respect,  that 


240  APPENDIX. 

the  places  are  not  saleable,  but  gratuitously 
bestowed  by  the  governor,  as  was  practised 
under  the  ancient  dukes  of  Lorraine.     And 
it  may  not  be  improper  to  inform  the  reader, 
of  a  great  amelioration  effected  in  the  whole 
kingdom  of  France  since  the  above  observa- 
tions were  made,  namely,  the  abolition  of  ve- 
nality in  the  offices  of  judicature.     Private 
animosities  between  the  Dukes  of  Arguillon 
and  Ciioiseul,  gave  occasion  to  this  salutary 
operation ;  the  latter  of  these  noblemen,  to 
oppress   his   competitor,   drew   on   him  the 
whole  weight  of  parliamentary  persecution, 
and  was  not  very  solicitous  of  its  insulting 
the  royal  authority,  provided  the  Duke  of 
Arguillon  was  made  to  suffer.     But  he  mis- 
carried in  his  attempt.     The  king's  patience 
was  at  length  overcome.     Choiseul  was  dis- 
graced  and  Monsieur  de  Maupeon,  chancel- 
lor of  France,  had  the  courage  to  plan,  pro- 
pose, and  with  the  king's  entire  concurrence, 
to  suppress  all  the  parliaments  of  France, 
and  re-establish  them,  but  on  a  different  foot- 
ing.     The   sale    of   places   was   abolished. 
When  a  vacation   happens,  the  parliament 
is  to   propose   three   subjects,  who  are  re- 
commended to  be  taken  from  amongst  ex- 


APPENDIX.  241 

perienced  barristers,  and  the  king  is  to  ap- 
point one  of  them.  The  parliament  of  Metz 
having  been  suppressed  with  the  others,  it 
was  not  replaced  by  a  new  creation,  but  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  ancient  one  was  united  to 
that  of  Lorraine,  by  which  means  tlie  parlia- 
ment of  Nancy  acquired  a  large  addition  of 
business  and  consequently  of  influence. 

I  cannot  leave  Lorraine  without  recording 
some  particular  institutions  of  the  benevolent 
Stanislaus.  For  the  encouragement  of  fine 
arts,  he  erected  an  academy,  to  which  were 
aggregated  men  of  the  best  taste  in  the  dif- 
ferent branches  of  literature  and  the  sciences. 
He  founded  annual  premiums  to  be  bestowed 
on  those  who  excelled  in  sculpture,  painting, 
architecture,  &c.,  which  besides  the  certainty 
of  being  employed  and  well  paid,  enkindled 
emulation  amongst  his  subjects,  and  greatly 
contributed  to  the  perfection  of  the  noble 
buildings  and  public  monuments  which  adorn 
Nancy,  viz  :  the  town  house,  the  governor's 
palace,  the  brazen  statue  of  Louis  XV.,  the 
public  fountains,  the  town  gates,  &c.  He 
provided  the  academy  with  noble  apart- 
ments and  an  excellent  library  in  the  town 
house.  His  attention  was  given  to  the  small- 
21 


242  APPENDIX. 

est  as  well  as  the  greatest  things,  and  many 
of  the  numerous  buildings  which  surround 
the  square  of  Louis  XV.,  particularly  the 
iron  work  of  the  balconies,  are  finished  with 
a  taste  and  perfection,  which  the  encourage- 
ment and  understanding  of  a  great  prince  is 
used  to  diffuse  throuurhout  all  his  undertak- 
ings. 

The  mission,  as  it  is  called,  was  another 
admirable  institution  of  Stanislaus,  calcula- 
ted for  the  instruction,  chiefly,  of  the  coun- 
try people,  the  preservation  of  manners,  and 
consequently  of  industry  amongst  them,  and 
for  the  relief  of  helpless  indigence.  With 
this  view,  he  erected  a  noble  house  in  one  of 
the  suburbs,  and  endowed  it  with  sufiicient 
revenues  for  the  maintenance  of  a  certain 
number  of  Jesuits,  who  were  to  be  employed 
during  the  greatest  part  of  the  year,  and 
particularly  in  the  winter  months,  as  being 
most  convenient  for  the  country  people,  in 
instructing  them  and  enforcing  the  obliga- 
tion and  practice  of  the  great  christian  du- 
ties. It  was  appointed  that  they  should  di- 
vide the  province  of  Lorraine  amongst  them, 
ffoinsf  two  and  two  toorether,  and  that  no 
part   might   be   left   uninstructed,   half  the 


APPENDIX.  243 

inissioners  were  German,  half  French,  each 
allotting  to  themselves,  those  districts  re- 
spectively in  which  French  or  German  was 
the  ordinary  language.  It  is  incredible  what 
advantages  accrued  from  this  institution: 
what  abuses,  arising  greatly  from  ignorance, 
extirpated ;  what  good  practices  introduced, 
and  even  what  political  improvement  arose 
from  the  amendment  and  preservation  of 
manners.  The  royal  founder  had  this  estab- 
lishment so  much  at  heart,  that  he  forgot 
nothinsT  to  insure  its  success.  That  the  mis- 
sioners  might  be  no  grievance  to  the  parish 
priests  or  others,  during  their  excursions,  he 
provided  abundantly  for  the  expenses  of  their 
journeys  and  maintenance.  Wherever  they 
went  they  were  attended  (and  this,  likewise, 
was  owing  to  the  provident  care  and  princely 
foundation  of  Stanislaus)  by  a  physician  and 
apothecary  with  drugs  to  be  administered 
gratis  amongst  the  poor  people,  whom  they 
should  find  in  want  of  such  assistance;  and 
moreover  a  certain  sum  was  allowed  to  the 
missioners  to  be  dispensed  in  alms  in  each 
mission.  It  may  be  truly  said  of  this  excel- 
lent prince,  that  his  mind  enjoyed  that  rare 
quality  of  forming  great  and  mature  plans 


244  APPENDIX. 

without  losing  sight  of  the  minute  details  in 
carrying  them  into  execution.  He  used 
every  precaution  which  human  prudence 
could  direct,  to  perpetuate  to  future  ages  this 
monument  of  his  love  for  his  subjects.  But 
he  was  scarce  in  the  grave,  when  the  court 
of  Versailles  ordered  the  missioners  to  evac- 
uate their  house,  the  revenues  were  applied 
to  other  uses,  or  at  least  remained  under 
sequestration,  and  so  noble  a  foundation  was 
at  once  wholly  overturned. 

Indeed,  the  fate,  which  immediately  after 
Stanislaus'  death  attended  many  others  of 
his  establishments,  is  sufficient  to  convince 
princes,  that  the  surest  way  to  future  remem- 
brance, is  to  deserve  the  love  of  their  sub- 
jects. The  Lorrainers  recall  to  mind  their 
late  sovereign  with  hearts  full  of  gratitude 
and  even  tenderness,  though  the  Duke  of 
Choiseul  during  his  ministry  ordered  many 
monuments  of  Stanislaus'  magnificence  to 
be  destroyed.  He  gave  instructions  to  this 
purpose  with  so  much  precipitation,  that  one 
is  apt  to  think  he  was  actuated  by  virulence, 
if  the  deceased  prince  could  have  raised 
those  sentiments  in  any  breast.  Count  Stain- 
ville,  the  duke's  brother,  was  charged  with 


APPENDIX.  245 

the  execution  of  these  orders,  and  was  not 
deficient  in  his  trust.  Malgrange,  a  palace 
near  Nancy,  and  its  fine  gardens,  were  en- 
tirely destroyed,  and  the  public  was  the 
more  offended  at  the  latter,  as  the  old  king 
had  established  in  them  some  very  edifying 
and  popular  practices  of  religion.  Two  or 
three  other  country  seats  were  ruined ;  and 
what  excited  particular  indignation,  was, 
that  many  pictures  painted  by  Stanislaus 
himself  in  his  hours  of  relaxation,  (for  he 
was  a  stranger  to  none  of  the  polite  arts,) 
were  allowed  to  be  bought  and  carried  off 
by  a  company  of  Jews.  Though  father-in- 
law  to  the  king  of  France,  and  so  munificent 
a  benefactor  of  his  subjects,  no  monument 
is  erected  to  his  memory.  It  cannot  be 
doubted,  but  the  province  of  Lorraine  would 
gladly  contribute  to  any  public  testimony  of 
their  gratitude,  but  the  leading  men  wiio 
should  set  such  a  design  in  motion,  knew  the 
temper  of  the  minister,  and  w^ere  too  good 
courtiers  to  suggest  a  measure  which  they 
had  reason  to  think  would  be  interpreted  as 
a  condemnation  of  his  proceedings.  The 
omission  of  a  mausoleum  was  the  more  to  be 
censured,  as  the  spot  for  erecting  it  seemed 
21* 


216  APPENDIX. 

to  be  particularly  marked  out.  In  the  beau- 
tiful chapel  of  Bonsecours,  just  out  of  the 
sfates  of  Nancy,  Stanislaus  had  raised  a 
noble  monument  to  the  memory  of  the  queen 
his  consort,  and  on  tlie  opposite  side  of  the 
chapel  a  space  was  left,  wliich  was  designed 
for  the  ashes  and  mausoleum  of  the  kings. 
In  that  of  the  queen,  the  connoisseurs  in 
statuary  admire  a  noble  medallion  in  white 
marble  of  charity.  She  is  represented  in  an 
attitude  of  the  greatest  beneficence,  accom- 
pained  by  three  cliildren,  one  of  whom  lies 
asleep  by  her  side,  appearing  to  have  been 
iust  relieved  bv  her  milk  :  she  is  actually 
giving  suck  to  another,  and  the  third  is  cry- 
ing, that  his  turn  is  not  yet  come  to  get  his 
nourishment. 

If  on  the  one  hand,  the  Count  de  Stain- 
ville  carried  into  execution  his  brother's  in- 
structions for  destroying  many  of  Stanislaus' 
works,  it  must  be  added,  likewise,  that  with 
the  concurrence  of  the  same  person  he  erect- 
ed several  others  for  the  embellishment  of 
Nancy.  The  barracks  for  the  soldiery  de- 
serve particular  mention.  They  form  an  im- 
mense building  of  a  noble,  though  unadorned 
style  of  architecture.     The  conveniences  for 


APPENDIX.  247 

health,  cleanliness  and  all  other  purposes, 
are  admirable.  The  foundations  of  another 
grand  edifice,  designed  for  the  university, 
were  just  laid,  when  I  was  in  Lorraine. 
The  count  undertook  to  fill  up  the  town 
ditches,  and  lay  them  out  into  grand  walks, 
Nancy  for  the  future  not  being  to  be  kept 
as  a  town  of  w^ar.  The  prodigious  depth 
and  breadth  of  the  ditches,  renders  this  un- 
dertaking truly  immense.  It  was  not  car- 
ried on  during  my  abode  there  with  the 
same  spirit  it  was  begun,  and  probably  the 
decline  of  Count  Stainville's  credit,  by  the 
disgrace  of  his  brother,  may  put  it  wholly 
at  an  end. 

From  Lorraine  and  Alsace,  we  proceeded 
across  the  Rhine  into  the  empire.  We 
passed  over  this  river,  by  the  wooden  bridge, 
about  three  miles  distant  from  Strasbourg. 
The  bridge  was  formerly  defended  on  the 
side  of  the  empire  by  Fort  Kehl,  which  is 
now  quite  gone  to  ruin.  France  has  an  easy 
entrance  into  Germany,  whenever  she  washes 
it.  The  first  state  one  comes  into  on  this 
side  of  the  empire  is  the  principality  of 
Baden  Baden.  The  capital  town  of  his  do- 
minions is  Baden,  but  the  residence  of  the 


248  APPENDIX. 

Count  is  at  Rastadt,  where  there  is  a  noble 
palace,  with  large  gardens  laid  out  in  the 
taste  of  the  country.  In  my  journey  from 
Strasbourg  to  this  place,  I  was  taken  ill 
with  a  fever  and  ague,  which  put  it  out  of 
my  power  to  get  the  information  of  the 
country  wiiicli  I  wished.  I  observed  that 
part  of  it  which  lies  towards  tlie  Rhine,  to 
be  cliielly  lit  for  pasturage  and  Indian  corn; 
the  other  side  produces  a  good  deal  of  wheat. 
The  wine  growing  here,  called  vin  da  mare- 
piisat,  is  more  esteemed  than  that  of  Alsace. 
From  Rastadt  we  proceeded  to  Carlsruhe, 
the  residence  of  the  Prince  of  Baden  Dour- 
lach.  The  States  of  this  prince  were  for- 
merly united  with  those  of  Baden  Baden, 
under  one  sovereign,  who  was  called  prince 
of  Baden.  But  one  of  the  branches  of  the 
family  becoming  Protestant,  it  was  supported 
by  that  interest  during  the  long  thirty  years' 
w^ar  of  the  empire  in  the  last  century ;  and 
it  was  settled  in  the  treaty  of  Westphalia, 
that  the  principality  should  be  so  divided, 
that  Baden  Baden  remain  to  the  Catholic, 
and  Baden  Dourlach  to  the  Protestant 
branch,  with  a  provision,  that  if  either  be- 
came extinct,  the  survivor  should  inherit  the 


APPENDIX.  249 

other's  dominions.  This  event  took  place 
about  two  months  after  my  passage  through 
these  states,  the  prince  of  Baden  Baden 
dying  without  issue.  He  was  son  to  the 
famous  General  Prince  Lewis,  of  Baden. 

My  illness  continuing  upon  me,  I  found 
myself  unable  to  see  or  learn  the  particular 
state  of  the  Prince  of  Dourlach's  govern- 
ment. I  was  the  more  concerned  at  it,  as  I 
was  informed  that  he  promoted  with  inde- 
fatigable application  the  welfare  and  happi- 
ness of  his  subjects,  and  that  he  very  well 
deserved  the  accession  to  his  fortune  w^hich 
he  has  now  received.  I  heard  in  particular, 
that  he  provided  every  parish  with  an  able 
schoolmaster,  who  taught  the  children  read- 
ing, Avriting,  arithmetic  and  surveying,  with- 
out being  any  charge  to  the  parents.  All 
the  children  are  obliged  to  frequent  the 
school ;  and  whilst  employing  their  hands  in 
forming  the  alphabet,  they  are  taught  to 
read  and  write  on  such  subjects  as  may  ever 
occur  to  them.  At  certain  times  of  the  year, 
their  performances  are  sent  to  the  prince, 
who  with  unparalleled  zeal  and  patience 
examines  their  improvement  in  writing  or 
orthography,   arithmetic,  &c.,  and  rewards 


250  APPENDIX. 

tliem  accordingly;  other  schools  are  ap- 
pointed for  instructing  girls  in  things  proper 
for  their  sex.  The  prince  is  repaid  for  this 
gratuitous  education  in  the  following  manner: 
He  keeps  about  one  thousand  four  hundred  sol- 
diers; the  young  men  from  eighteen  to  twen- 
ty-four years  must  be  content  to  serve,  if 
they  be  judged  proper,  for  a  certain  term  of 
years,  during  which  they  are  very  well  kept 
and  regularly  paid.  I  ^vas  just  able  to  walk 
through  the  palace  of  Carlsruhe,  which  is  the 
prince's  chief  residence.  It  is  a  new  and 
very  large  building,  and  some  apartments, 
especially  that  of  the  princess,  are  fitted  up 
w^ith  great  elegance.  The  gardens  are  very 
large,  and  some  beginnings  appear  of  good 
taste  in  laying  them  out.  If  the  prince  con- 
tinue to  make  this  his  principal  sojourn,  I 
doubt  not  but  he  will  improve  them  much,  as 
his  abilities  at  present  are  so  much  greater. 
Following  the  course  of  the  Rhine,  we  came 
next  to  Bruchsal,  where  the  bishop  and 
prince  of  Spire  keeps  his  court.  My  com- 
panion went  to  see  the  palace,  while  my  ill- 
ness kept  me  abed  :  he  told  me  it  exceeded 
in  the  elegance  of  its  taste  and  furniture 
those  w^e  had  already  met  with  on  our  road. 


APPENDIX.  251 

The  situation  appeared  very  advantageous. 
I  observed,  in  coming  into  the  town,  a  salt 
refinery.  I  imagine  there  can  be  few  manu- 
factures in  these  petty  states.  The  consump- 
tion would  never  answer  the  expense.  As 
they  have  a  constant  jealousy,  one  of  the 
other,  they  naturally  would  lay  heavy  duties 
upon  articles  of  importation  from  their  neigh- 
bors. The  people  in  general  in  this,  as  w^ell 
as  in  both  the  principalities  of  Baden,  have 
a  heavy  and  awkward  appearance,  to  which 
their  dress  contributes  not  a  little. 

Leaving  Bruchsal,  we  soon  entered  into 
the  states  of  the  Elector  Palatine,  and  came 
through  Heidelberg  to  Manheim.  The  elec- 
tor keeps  a  splendid  court  in  this  last  town, 
which  is  seated  at  the  confluence  of  the 
Rhine  and  the  Neckar,  and  strongly  fortified. 
The  last  elector  having  received  some  dis- 
content from  the  citizens  of  Heidelberg,  re- 
moved his  court  from  that  city  to  Manheim, 
and  entirely  rebuilt  this  latter  place  in  a  very 
regular  form.  The  streets  are  all  straight, 
and  most  of  them  terminite  at  one  extremity 
at  the  elector's  palace.  This  is  an  immense 
and  regular  building,  but  not  formed  on  any 
grand  style  of  architecture,  though  there  are 


252  APPENDIX. 

very  rich  apartments  in  it.  The  furniture 
of  most  is  extremely  costly  and  elegant. 
But  the  chief  objects  of  curiosity  are  :  1.  The 
gallery  of  pictures,  which  comprehends  six 
rooms,  though  the  two  first  contain  nothing 
remarkable:  2.  The  collection  of  natural, 
history,  and  antiquities :  3.  A  noble  library 
of  about  forty  thousand  volumes:  4.  A  very 
magnificent  theatre. 

The  elector  is  a  prince  of  remarkable 
good  parts,  and  very  well  versed  in  litera- 
ture. He  reads  much,  and  speaks  with  flu- 
ency, besides  his  own  language,  Italian, 
French  and  English.  Being  learned  him- 
self, he  encourages  literary  merit  in  others : 
he  has  erected  an  academy  of  arts  and  sci- 
ences, which,  however,  is  not  likely  to  be  of 
much  advantage  to  the  state.  The  mem- 
bers employed  to  form  the  plan  and  regula- 
tions proceeded  upon  narrow  and  selfish 
principles  of  interest  and  envy ;  and  under 
pretence  of  allowing  entire  liberty,  and  ex- 
cluding all  partiality,  introduced  a  system 
of  by-laws,  which  may  prove  very  detrimen- 
tal to  revealed  religion,  as  well  as  exclude 
from  the  academy  the  most  learned  men  of 
the  elector's  dominions. 


o 


APPENDIX.  25 


Those  who  were  most  distinguished  for 
learning  and  merit,  at  the  time  of  our  pas- 
sage through  the  electorate,  were  Fathers 
Desbillons,  Meyer,  and  another  Jesuit,  whose 
name  I  do  not  remember,  professor  of  phi- 
losophy at  the  university  of  Heidelberg,  and 
Messrs.  Maillot  and  Tchoflin,  librarians  to 
the  elector.  Father  Desbillons  has  applied 
himself  particularly  to  the  study  of  the  Latin 
classics  and  the  Latin  tongue,  and  is  per- 
haps the  most  versed  in  the  knowledge  of 
both  of  any  man  in  Europe.  His  elegant 
Latin  fables,  formed  on  the  model  and  style 
of  Phoedrus,  are  a  proof  of  extraordinary  im- 
provement in  his  favorite  study.  It  is  a  pity 
that  the  notes  he  has  added,  carry  with  them 
an  air  of  pedantry.  I  heard  he  was  em- 
ployed in  a  great  work  which  was  eagerly 
expected  by  the  learned  Germans,  and  was 
to  be  entitled  the  History  of  the  Latin  Lan- 
guage. Father  Desbillons  is  a  Frenchman, 
and  after  the  dissolution  of  the  Jesuits  in 
France,  was  graciously  received  and  pro- 
tected at  Manheim  by  the  elector.  The  par- 
ticular library  which  he  has  collected,  of 
about  eight  thousand  volumes  is  remarkable 
22 


254  APPENDIX. 

for  the  judicious  choice  and  rareness  of  the 
books  and  editions. 

Father  Meyer's  studies  are  turned  wholly 
on  astronomy,  of  which  he  is  a  public  elec- 
toral professor  in  the  University  of  Heidel- 
berg. He  is  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  and 
several  other  academies.  His  mensuration 
of  a  deirree  of  the  meridian  is  esteemed 
among  the  learned.  He  was  called  to  St. 
Petersburg,  by  the  Empress  of  Russia,  to  ob- 
serve the  last  transit  of  Venus,  and  had  good 
success.  The  elector  has  caused  an  observ- 
atory to  be  erected  at  one  of  his  country 
palaces,  and  furnished  it  with  the  best  instru- 
ments from  England.  It  is  here  that  Father 
Meyer  makes  his  observations. 

Many  schemes  have  been  adopted  for  im- 
proving the  natural  richness  of  this  state,  by 
the  establishment  of  different  manufactures, 
and  some  have  proved  successful,  particu- 
larly the  China  manufacture  at  Frankendahl. 
I  saw  several  pieces  of  furniture  executed 
there,  which  would  do  honor  to  Dresden. 
There  are  likewise  some  establishments  for 
cloth,  and  linen  manufactures.  The  advan- 
tages arising  from  these  institutions,  and 
chiefly  a  w  ell  regulated  tax  on  the  country. 


APPENDIX.  255 

which  is  very  fertile,  would  yield  a  sulH- 
cient  revenue  to  the  elector,  if  like  most 
other  German  princes,  he  did  not  keep  a 
court  much  too  splendid  for  the  extent  of  his 
states,  and,  perhaps,  a  too  great  number  of 
soldiers.  Another  large  expense  to  the 
elector  is  the  public  theatre  of  his  palace. 
He  pays  the  whole  charges  of  actors,  music, 
decorations,  wardrobe,  &c. ;  and  those  who 
are  acquainted  with  theatrical  entertain- 
ments, will  easily  form  an  idea  of  the  im- 
mense sums,  that  are  required  to  maintain 
them  with  splendor  and  dignity.  Particu- 
lars pay  nothing  for  going  to  see  them.  The 
consequence  of  the  elector's  magnificence  is, 
that  the  subject  is  most  enormously  taxed. 
The  palatinate  very  early  embraced  the 
reformed  religion,  which  during  a  long 
course  of  years,  greatly  prevailed  in  number 
and  power  over  the  Catholics,  as  the  sov- 
ereigns espoused  the  new  doctrines.  Some- 
times Lutheranism  had  the  lead,  sometimes 
Galvanism.  But  the  eldest  branch  of  the 
palatine  line  becoming  extinct,  the  elec- 
torate devolved  to  the  Duke  of  Newbourg, 
a  Roman  Gatholic  prince,  and  he  brought 
an  accession  to  his  new  state  of  the  dutchy 


256  APPENDIX. 

of  Berg.  Since  that  time,  the  Catholics 
have  become  nearly  equal,  if  not  superior 
in  number  and  interest,  to  either  the  Luther- 
ans or  Calvinists,  and  their  growth  will 
probably  continue  to  be  still  more  con- 
siderable. The  present  elector  has  no  suc- 
cessor, so  that  his  stales  devolve  to  the  Duke 
de  Deux-Ponts,  wlio  likewise,  will  inherit  the 
electorate  of  Bavaria,  in  default  of  issue  from 
that  and  the  palatine  laniily. 

From  Manheim,  we  continued  following 
the  course  of  the  Rhine  to  Cologne,  passing 
through  the  bisliopric  of  Worms,  the  elec- 
torates of  Mentz,  Trevers,  and  Cologne. 

I  shall  say  nothing  of  these  countries,  ex- 
cept that  they  produce  great  quantities  of 
corn  and  wine.  Tlie  government  is  abso- 
lute in  these,  as  well  as  most  other  states  in 
Germany.  Mentz  is  the  first  electorate.  It 
is  likewise,  as  well  as  the  two  others,  an 
archbishopric ;  and  the  archbishop  is  legate 
of  the  holy  see  throughout  Germany.  His 
revenues,  however,  are  not  in  proportion  to 
his  dignity.  Those  of  Trevers  are  still  con- 
siderable, and  neither  they,  nor  the  elector 
of  Cologne,  would  be  able  to  maintain  such 
splendid  courts,  if  they  did  not  hold  other 


APPENDIX.  257 

bishoprics.  Thus  the  present  elector  of 
Mentz,  is  likewise  Bishop  of  Worms;  that  of 
Trevers,  Bishop  of  Augsbourg,  and  that  of 
Cologne,  Bishop  of  Munster. 

Having  returned  back  to  Manheim,  we 
proceeded  from  thence,  through  Swabia  to 
Augsbourg.  Though  Swabia  be  in  general 
a  plentiful  country,  chiefly  in  corn,  yet  the 
generality  of  the  inhabitants  appear  to  be  ex- 
tremely wretched.  Whether  it  be  owing  to 
the  weight  of  their  taxes  and  abject  depen- 
dence on  their  princes,  or  to  the  inland  situa- 
tion of  the  country,  which  leaves  them  no 
opportunity  of  carrying  on  foreign  trade,  I 
will  not  pretend  to  determine.  One  obser- 
vation, however,  the  traveller  through  this 
country  cannot  avoid  making,  which  is  the 
strange  contrast  between  the  magnificence 
and  politeness  of  the  court  of  the  Duke  of 
Wurtemberg,  which  lies  on  the  road,  and 
the  uncouthness  of  the  other  inhabitants. 
The  dress  and  manners  of  the  people,  are  the 
coarsest  and  most  unseemly  one  can  well 
imagine ;  that  of  the  women  in  particular 
does  not  seem  to  have  received  the  smallest 
degree  of  refinement.  Their  houses  are  so 
contrived,  that  the  ground  floor  serves  for  a 
22* 


258  APPENDIX. 

stable  for  their  cattle  ;  a  ladder  leads  up  to 
that  in  which  the  family  abides.  The  filth 
and  stench  arising  from  such  a  distribution 
are  to  be  conceived ;  had  the  people  any 
ideas  of  cleanliness,  it  would  be  easy  to  keep 
their  houses  sweet  and  clean.  I  scarcely 
passed  through  a  village  in  Swabia,  where 
the  streets  were  not  plentifully  watered  by 
a  constant  stream.  There  is  indeed  to  be 
observed  in  every  country,  a  great  difference 
between  the  gentry  and  lower  class  of  peo- 
ple; but  in  none  does  this  difference  strike  one 
so  much,  as  in  many  parts  of  Germany  ;  and 
it  is  natural  to  imagine,  that  it  arises  there 
chiefly  from  the  nature  of  the  feudal  govern- 
ment. The  generality  of  the  inhabitants  are 
under  so  slavish  a  dependence,  and  they  are 
so  much  accustomed  to  consider  their  lords 
as  beings  of  a  superior  class,  that  it  is  very 
probable  much  the  greatest  part  never  con- 
ceive an  idea  of  the  original  equality,  or  of 
the  common  rights  of  mankind.  Their  sen- 
timents in  all  likelihood  might  become  more 
elevated,  if  the  uniform  equality  of  the  sub- 
jects, one  with  another,  did  not  stifle  all  the 
seeds  of  mutual  emulation.  In  most  other 
countries   there   is   a   regular  gradation   of 


APPENDIX.  259 

ranks  from  the  prince  down  to  the  peasant ; 
but  here  there  seem  to  be  no  intermediate 
condition ;  and  in  the  whole  course  of  our 
travels  through  Swabia,  I  do  not  remember 
to  have  seen  on  the  road,  the  house  of  one 
subject  which  bespoke  a  master  elevated 
above  the  condition  of  his  fellow-subjects  ; 
at  least,  not  till  we  came  into  the  neighbor- 
hood and  jurisdiction  of  the  imperial  city  of 
Augsbourg. 

That  part  of  Swabia  which  belongs  to 
the  Duke  of  Wurtemberg  is  almost  entirely 
Protestant,  though  the  reigning  duke  him- 
self professes  the  Catholic  religion.  His 
brothers  are  likewise  Protestants,  As  the 
duke  himself  has  no  children,  and  being 
separated  from  his  wife,  probably  never 
will,  his  estates  devolve  to  his  next  brother, 
Prince  Eugenius.  The  duke  is  very  pro- 
fuvse,  and  has  involved  his  finances  in  the  ut- 
most confusion.  This  has  been  to  him  a 
source  of  much  mortification,  as  his  subjects 
are  greatly  discontented  with  his  adminis- 
tration; for,  notwithstanding  his  difficult  cir- 
cumstances, he  cannot  refrain  from  extrava- 
gant expenses  in  building,  hunting,  keeping 


260  APPENDIX. 

great  bands  of  musicians  and  all  the  innu- 
merable supports  of  an  Italian  theatre. 

Augsbourg  is  a  large,  well  built  town ; 
it  was  formerly  one  of  the  first  trading  cities 
in  the  world,  when  Venice  was  mistress  of 
the  entire  comnuniications  with  the  Levant 
and  East  Indies.  The  effects  brought  to 
Venice  were  conveyed,  by  land  carriage,  to 
Augsbourg,  and  from  thence  spread  through- 
out the  whole  empire.  Even  at  present, 
there  are  great  remains  of  its  ancient  wealth 
and  industry.  Manufacturesof  goods,  silver, 
steel,  and  the  art  of  engraving,  are  still  in 
much  credit  here.  The  government  is  a 
mixture  of  democracy  and  aristocracy.  As 
the  religion  is  partially  Catholic  and  partly 
Evangelical,  the  magistracy  are  equally 
chosen  out  of  the  two  professions.  The  town 
house  is  a  remarkable  building,  furnished 
with  some  very  fine  paintings  of  the  Dutch 
school.  The  great  hall,  appropriated  to 
the  most  solemn  occasions,  such  as  the  en- 
tertainment of  the  emperor,  is  one  of  the 
finest,  both  for  its  size  and  finishing,  in 
Europe.  There  are  other  rooms  designed 
for  the  assemblies  of  the  magistracy,  the  dif- 
ferent trading  companies,  &c.     My  stay  was 


APPENDIX.  261 

too  short  to  inform  myself  of  the  state  of 
letters. 

The  road  from  Augsbourg  to  Munich,  is  in 
general  disagreeable  ,  the  greatest  part  of  it 
is  through  forests  of  firs,  and  the  land  is  in- 
capable of  improvement  by  cultivation.  One 
proceeds  but  a  little  way  from  Augsbourg, 
before  entering  into  the  Duke  of  Bavaria's 
dominions.  The  harvest  of  1771  was  just 
gotten  in,  and  the  inhabitants  were  begin- 
ning to  recover  themselves  from  the  dread- 
ful famine  of  the  preceding  year.  Yet  still, 
wretchedness  and  want  were  painted  in 
every  object ;  provisions  continued  to  bear  a 
great  price,  much  above  the  abilities  of  the 
poorer  class  of  people.  The  roads  were 
covered  with  miserable  supplicants;  instead 
of  gratifying  curiosity  with  the  sight  and 
observation  of  new  countries,  it  was  im- 
possible not  to  have  one's  thoughts  wholly 
occupied  with  the  distress  of  so  many  fel- 
low-creatures. Even  Munich  itself,  though 
the  capital  of  the  country,  and  usual  resi- 
dence of  a  splendid  court,  appeared  sad  and 
gloomy,  from  the  terrible  circumstances  of 
the  times.  The  accidental  scarcity  was  ag- 
gravated by  the  load  of  taxes  laid  on  the 


262  APPENDIX. 

subjects.  I  found  the  elector  beloved  by  his 
people,  but  his  ministers  most  heartily  de- 
tested, particularly  the  Count  de  Baumgar- 
ten,  who  had  the  chief  direction  of  affairs,  a 
man  of  inflexible  rigidity,  who  having  gained 
an  ascendant  over  his  sovereign  during  his 
youth,  continued  still  to  overrule  his  judg- 
ment. This  was  a  real  misfortune  to  the 
people,  as  the  elector  himself  is  a  prince  of 
great  goodness,  and  more  than  ordinarily 
humane.  The  taxes,  though  weighty  of 
themselves,  became  still  more  grievous  by 
the  manner  in  which  they  were  levied.  All 
the  duties  of  exportation  and  importation 
were  farmed  out ;  and  the  publicans  ha- 
rassed the  people  beyond  measure,  by 
searches,  vexations,  law-suits,  and  other 
such  odious  methods.  It  is  indeed  true, 
that  the  elector  is  under  some  kind  of  neces- 
sity of  burdening  his  subjects  with  a  heavy 
load.  His  ancestors  were  remarkable  during 
several  generations,  for  their  magnificence 
and  generosity,  which  perhaps  sometimes 
degenerated  into  prodigality.  Hence  they 
contracted  heavy  debts,  and  the  present 
sovereign  entertains  sentiments  of  known 
equity  too  strict   not  to   consider    himself 


APPENDIX.  263 

bound  to  pay  the  creditors.  His  father,  the 
Emperor  Charles  VII.'s  misfortunes  con- 
tributed to  distress  still  more  the  public 
finances.  These  disorders  however,  are  al- 
ready greatly  remedied  by  the  prudent  econ- 
omy of  the  reigning  prince.  He  is  a  lover  of 
the  arts  and  sciences ;  he  has  instituted  an 
academy,  and  given  it  much  public  encour- 
agement. He  himself  cultivates  music  and 
some  other  arts,  with  great  success.  His 
court  was  not  at  Munich,  when  we  passed, 
and  circumstances  did  not  allow  us  to  go  to 
the  country  palace,  where  it  then  resided. 
The  town  palace  is  very  large,  but  not  a 
regular  building.  One  of  the  apartments, 
consisting  of  seven  or  eight  large  rooms,  and 
called  the  green  apartment^  is  the  most 
elegantly  and  completely  furnished  of  any  I 
have  ever  seen.  Besides  the  richness  and 
fine  taste  of  the  hangings,  gilding,  chairs, 
sofas,  stoves,  &c.,  it  is  adorned  with  a 
choice  and  magnificent  collection  of  the 
best  Italian  and  Flemish  paintings.  The 
theatre,  likewise,  belonging  to  the  palace, 
though  not  very  large,  is  however,  finished 
with  the  greatest  taste,  and  the  machinery 
for  shifting  the  scenes,  &c.   is   admirable. 


264  APPENDIX. 

The  electoral  treasury,  consisting  of  gold  and 
silver  plate,  curiously  wrought  arms,  and  cu- 
riosities of  all  kinds,  is  likewise  well  worth 
the  observation  of  a  traveller,  and  hardly  to 
be  equalled  by  any  other  repository  of  the 
same  kind.  Another  object  deserving  to  be 
seen  is  the  Jesuits'  church.  The  inside 
architecture  in  particular,  is  of  the  most 
noble  and  manly  style ;  the  builder  w^as  one 
of  those  children  of  genius,  who  are  formed 
without  a  painful  study  of  the  rules  of  art. 
He  was  a  common  mason,  and  yet  Italy, 
perhaps,  cannot  show  so  bold  a  vault  as  that 
from  end  to  end,  which  forms  the  whole 
breadth  of  the  church.  It  was  erected  by 
the  generosity  and  piety  of  William,  Duke 
of  Bavaria.  This  prince,  eminent  for  his 
prudence  in  government,  as  w^ell  as  his  chris- 
tian virtues,  ruled  his  states  with  great  suc- 
cess, in  very  difficult  times,  about  the  mid- 
dle of  the  sixteenth  century.  He  thought 
himself  greatly  indebted  to  the  zeal  and 
learning  of  the  Jesuits,  for  preserving  his  sub- 
jects from  the  contagion  of  the  spreading  re- 
ligious errors,  and  through  gratitude,  as  well 
as  in  order  to  perpetuate  the  same  advantage 
to  his  people,  he  built  and  founded  a  college 


APPENDIX.  265 

of  Jesuits  at  Munich.  After  a  most  prosper- 
ous reign,  he  resigned  his  government  to  his 
son,  several  years  before  his  death,  and  re- 
tired to  a  private  life  which  he  spent  in  the 
constant  exercise  of  christian  virtues.  He 
passed  several  hours  a  day  in  the  churcli  lie 
had  built,  and  in  his  last  will,  ordered  his 
body  to  be  deposited  in  it,  under  a  plain 
stone,  without  even  the  inscription  of  his 
name,  in  lieu  of  which,  he  directed  these 
words,  taken  out  of  the  book  of  Job,  to  be 
engraved :  Commissa  mea  pavesco  et  ante  tc 
erubesco,  dum  veneris  judicare  ;  noli  me  con- 
demnare.  It  is  but  doing  justice  to  the 
Jesuits  of  this  country  to  add,  that  they  have 
perfectly  corresponded  with  the  views  of 
their  munificent  benefactor.  Indefatigable 
in  the  service  of  religion,  their  labors  have 
greatly  contributed  to  preserve  it  in  Bavaria, 
not  only  uncorrupted  with  the  pernicicus 
tenets  of  the  neighboring  provinces,  but 
moreover,  to  render  the  practical  duties  of  it 
more  generally,  and  more  constantly  at- 
tended to,  than  perhaps,  in  any  other  coun- 
try in  Europe.  The  belles  lettres,  likewise, 
and  sciences  are  much  cultivated  by  them; 
23 


266  APPENDIX. 

especially  the  study  of  physics,  history,  and 
mathematics. 

I  could  get  no  clear  state  of  the  elector's 
revenues,  which  are  considerable.  His  pre- 
decessors used  to  maintain  a  much  larger 
body  of  troops  than  he  has  on  foot  at  pre- 
sent. I  was  told  there  are  not  above  eight 
thousand  men.  It  would  be  well,  probably, 
for  the  different  states  of  Germany  if  the 
other  princes  followed  this  example. 

Following  the  road  from  Munich  to  In- 
spruch,  we  very  soon  entered  into  the  moun- 
tains which  communicate  with  the  Alps,  and 
may  properly  be  said  to  be  a  part  of  them. 
We  passed  by  several  lakes,  formed  at  the 
foot  of  these  mountains.  This  water  is  the 
fmest  one  can  see,  and  they  are  stocked 
with  great  quantities  of  excellent  fish,  and 
some  of  a  peculiar  species,  to  be  met  with  no 
where  else.  The  pleasing  prospect  these 
lakes  afford,  relieve  the  traveller,  and  form  an 
agreeable  contrast  with  the  awful  sight  of 
impending  mountains.  The  roads  from  Mu- 
nich to  Tyrol,  are  kept  in  bad  repair,  and  in 
no  degree  comparable  to  those,  which  are 
made  over  the  Alps,  throughout  this  latter 
province.     The  entrance  into  it  on  the  side 


APPENDIX. 


267 


of  Bavaria,  is  defended  by  fortresses,  impreg- 
nable more  from  their  situation,  than  the 
work  of  art :  the  house  of  Austria,  to  whom 
the  country  of  Tyrol  belongs,  makes  it  a 
capital  point  of  politics,  to  preserve  this  pas- 
sage into  Italy,  in  its  own  hands.  Indeed 
the  country  appears  to  be  of  little  other  im- 
portance to  the  court  of  Vienna,  besides  its 
serving  to  connect  together  its  German  and 
Italian  states:  the  barren  mountains,  which 
form  the  whole  province,  can  yield  but  a 
small  revenue  to  the  sovereign.  But  the  un- 
disputed communication  with  Italy,  of  which 
Austria  is  hereby  possessed,  must  always 
give  the  latter  great  weight  in  all  transac- 
tions relative  to  the  former,  or  an  advan- 
tage over  France,  especially  when  the  latter 
chances  not  to  be  allied  with  the  King  of 
Sardinia.  Inspruch,  the  capital  of  Tyrol,  af- 
fords few  things  remarkable.  There  is  a 
large  palace  with  gardens  much  out  of  repair 
contiguous  to  it.  The  palace  used  to  be  the 
residence  of  the  archduke,  governor  of  the 
province :  it  was  here  the  late  Emperor 
Francis  I.,  father  of  the  present,  and  hus- 
band of  the  empress  queen,  died  suddenly 
in   1765.     He  had   come   with   the   whole 


268  APPENDIX. 

court  of  Vienna,  to  solemnize  the  marriage 
of  his  second  son  Archduke  Leopold,  with 
the  Infanta  of  Spain,  and  to  transfer  to  him 
the  grand  dutchy  of  Tuscany.  The  diver- 
sions on  so  solemn  an  occasion,  were  scarce 
begun,  when  the  instantaneous  death  of  the 
emperor  put  them  to  an  end.  A  monument 
is  erected  at  a  small  distance  out  of  the  town 
gates,  to  mark  the  spot  where  the  Infanta 
was  met  by  her  future  consort,  and  the 
whole  court.  On  the  other  side  of  the  town 
another  monument  is  erected  in  the  form  of 
a  triumphal  arch,  with  an  inscription,  im- 
porting that  the  emperor,  empress,  &c.  made 
their  entrance  that  way.  In  the  great 
church  of  the  Franciscans,  there  is  nothing 
remarkable,  besides  the  monument  erected  to 
the  memory  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian  I., 
on  which  are  engraven  bas  reliefs,  and  distri- 
buted in  different  panels,  all  around  the 
monument. 

Continuing  to  travel  through  the  moun- 
tains, we  met  little  remarkable,  before  we 
came  to  Trent.  There  appears  to  be  a  great 
trade  carried  on  between  Germany  and  the 
nearest  Italian  states,  as  we  met  immense 
quantities  of  wagons,  which  transport  from 


*  APPENDIX.  269 

Lombardy  and  the  Venetian  territory,  corn 
and  merchandise  into  Tyrol.  Trent  is  a 
small  town,  of  which  the  bishop  is  the  prince. 
But  his  authority  is  much  restrained  by  the 
court  of  Vienna,  and  must  at  all  times  be 
subservient  to  its  interests.  The  bishop  is 
chosen  by  the  chapter  of  the  Cathedral :  the 
chapter,  however,  is  generally  forced  to  con- 
form its  choice  to  the  dictation  of  Vienna. 

Here  the  Italian  language  begins  to  be 
spoken.  This  town  is  famous  for  the  holding 
of  the  last  general  council.  As  it  was  called 
chiefly  to  stop  the  progress  of  the  errors 
which  took  their  rise  in  Germany  before  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  its  situation 
was  judged  most  convenient  for  the  German 
and  Italian  bishops.  The  great  advantage, 
which  the  church  derived  from  this  assembly 
is  well  known,  though  it  was  not  so  fortu- 
nate, as  to  put  an  end  to  the  new  heresies. 
The  church  of  St.  Mary  Major,  in  which  it 
was  held,  has  nothing  particular  besides  a 
remarkable  fine  organ.  But  the  remem- 
brance of  that  august  assembly,  which  met 
in  it  so  often,  and  procured  so  great  services 
to  Christianity,  made  me  view  it  as  one  of 
the  most  awful  sanctuaries  in  the  world,  and 
23* 


270  APPENDIX. 

I  could  not  refrain  from  expressing  my  gra- 
titude to  the  Author  of  all  good. 

The  mountains  now  began  to  decline 
apace :  and  proceeding  along  the  Adige, 
which  we  had  followed  from  its  very  source, 
we  passed  through  Roveredo,  a  small  lively 
town  belonging  to  Austria,  we  came  at  last 
to  Verona.  We  had  now  fairly  emerged  into 
Italy.  It  is  impossible  for  the  most  satur- 
nine constitution  not  to  feel  some  of  that  en- 
thusiasm, which  the  remembrance  of  great 
men,  and  great  actions,  the  remains  of  arts 
and  sciences,  the  monuments  of  sway  and 
magnificence  are  apt  to  excite  in  every  cul- 
tivated mind. 

As  at  our  first  entrance  into  Italy,  I  could 
speak  but  very  little  Italian,  without  which 
the  traveller  must  be  much  at  a  loss  for  pro- 
per information,  I  could  not  get  all  those 
lights  which  I  wished  concerning  Verona, 
Mantua  and  Modena,  which  lay  in  our  road 
to  Bolonia.  I  shall  therefore  reserve  what 
occurs  to  be  said  of  those  places,  till  I  return 
to  visit  them. 

Bolonia  is  esteemed  the  second  city  of  the 
pope's  states ;  is  the  residence  of  a  cardinal 
legate,  and  was  erected  into  an  archbishopric 


APPENDIX.  271 

by  Gregory  XIII.  a  native  of  this  town.  Till 
that  time,  it  was  suffragan  to  the  see  of  Ra- 
venna. The  archbishop  is  always  a  cardi- 
nal, and  has  the  title  of  Prince  of  the  Holy 
Empire.  The  city  has  undergone  various 
revolutions  :  after  the  dismembering  of  the 
Roman  empire,  it  formed  sometimes  a  sepa- 
rate republic,  and  sometimes  w^as  subject  to 
one  or  other  of  the  petty  princes,  who  tore 
Italy  to  pieces  ;  when  their  tyranny  became 
intolerable,  it  called  the  pope  to  its  assist- 
ance, and  made  him  a  surrender  of  sove- 
reignty :  afterwards  reassumed  its  indepen- 
dency, and  finally  submitted  again  to  the 
holy  see,  retaining  however,  several  privi- 
leges. 

It  is  situated  in  the  fertile  and  immense 
plain  of  Lombardy  immediately  under  the 
Appenines,  which  separate  that  plain  from 
Tuscany.  This  position  renders  Bolonia  a 
very  agreeable  place  to  dwell  in.  The  hills, 
which  lie  on  one  side,  are  covered  with 
villas,  which  command  a  noble  prospect  over 
the  populous  and  cultivated  plains,  and  on 
the  other  side,  the  view  of  the  mountains, 
one  rising  over  the  other,  all  thickly  peopled 
and  full  of  vineyards,  cornfields,  &c.,  afford 


272  APPENDIX. 

an  expressible  pleasure  to  the  eye.  When 
one  beholds  the  environs  of  Bolonia,  as  well 
as  the  throng  of  inhabitants  in  the  town  itself, 
the  declamations  of  many  English  writers, 
on  the  wretched  condition  of  the  pope's 
states,  the  thinness  of  the  population,  the 
wretched  condition  of  agriculture,  appear  as 
false  as  they  are  fulsome  and  tedious.  I  be- 
lieve indeed,  and  may  have  occasion  here- 
after to  remark,  that  they  respect,  chiefly  that 
part  of  the  ecclesiastical  states,  which  is 
called  the  campania  of  Rome ;  but  they  use 
general  expressions  with  so  much  confidence, 
that  I  cannot  forbear  observing  how  little 
credit  ought  to  be  given  to  them.  Mr.  Addi- 
son in  particular,  after  a  long  enumeration  of 
the  perfections,  which  it  were  natural  to 
imagine  in  the  pope's  government,  concludes 
with  saying  that  it  is  in  fact  the  most  imper- 
fect of  all,  and  the  inhabitants  infinitely  more 
wretched  than  in  the  other  states.  This  is 
undoubtedly  a  strange  misrepresentation. 
Without  question  the  pope's  subjects  are  un- 
der some  disadvantages  peculiar  to  the  na- 
ture of  their  government ;  as  their  sovereign 
is  generally  advanced  in  years,  before  he 
begins  to  reign,  it  is  seldom  he  has  that  spirit 


APPENDIX.  273 

which  is  necessary  to  enter  upon  any  vigor- 
ous plan  for  the  encouragement  of  industry 
and  improvement  of  tlie  natural  richness  of 
his  dominions,  and  if  now  and  then,  some 
happy  scheme  is  adopted,  it  runs  great  risk 
of  not  meeting  with  the  same  approbation  in 
a  succeeding  reign.  Thus  many  advantages 
proper  to  republics  or  hereditary  states,  are 
lost  to  this.  Nothwithstanding  which,  it  is 
a  truth  most  obvious  to  the  traveller's  obser- 
vation, that  the  pope's  subjects,  (those  at 
least,  who  inhabit  the  Bolognese,  Ferrarese, 
the  Romagna,  the  dutchy  of  Urbino,  and  the 
Marche  of  Ancona,)  appear  infinitely  more 
happy,  and  at  their  ease,  than  those  of 
Parma,  Modena,  and  many  other  parts  of 
Italy,  to  say  nothing  of  several  provinces  in 
France  and  Germany.  If  trade  do  not 
flourish,  (which  is  often  owing  to  other 
causes  besides  want  of  the  prince's  encou- 
ragement,) at  least  private  property  is  not  ex- 
posed to  arbitrary  encroachments,  as  else- 
where ;  and  if  agriculture  be  not  so  improved 
as  in  England,  much  must  be  imputed  to  the 
natural  fertility  of  the  country,  which  makes 
the  farmer  more  indifferent  in  cultivating  his 
fields;   and  much  to  that  invincible  indo- 


274  APPENDIX.  ' 

lence  which  the  violent  heats  produce  in  the 
inhabitants.     However  wise   the   legislator 
may  be,  he  cannot  always  fully  counteract 
the  influence  of  the  climate  and  seasons  on 
the  dispositions  of  the  people.     It  appears  to 
me  that  the  great  error  of  most  travellers,  in 
discoursing  of  the  pope's  states,  arises  from 
a  comparative  view  of  their  former  and  pre- 
sent condition.     When  they  behold  the  re- 
mains of  ancient  magnificence,  and  reflect  on 
the  immense  population  of  former  times,  their 
imagination  takes  fire,  and  they  give  way  to 
the  popular   declamations   against   priestly 
government,  a  monastical  life,  and  the  ty- 
ranny of  Rome.     These  topics  favor   their 
prejudices  ;  their  trite  and  common-place  re- 
flections are  esteemed  profound  philosophy ; 
and  they  give  themselves  no  farther  trouble 
to  find  out  other  more  general  causes  of  the 
present   decay.      These   the   man   of  plain 
sense,  without  any  extraordinary  depth   of 
observation,  will  easily  be  able  to  discover. 
When  all  the  fine  arts  were  carried  to  so  great 
a  perfection  in  Rome,  when  the  city  and  its 
neighborhood  swarmed  so  thick  with  inhab- 
itants, is  all  this  to  be  attributed  merely  to 
the  superior  excellency  of  the  ancient,  over 


APPENDIX.  275 

the  present  government,  and  to  the  wiser 
political  maxims  of  heathen  Rome?  Must 
its  former  splendor  be  owing  entirely  to  for- 
mer liberty,  and  the  present  decay  to  actual 
slavery,  as  superficial  or  passionate  writers 
and  poets  often  repeat  ?  To  overthrow  this 
ungrounded  supposition,  let  it  be  considered, 
that  the  noblest  monuments  and  most  per- 
fect works  of  art,  were  performed  during  the 
reign  of  the  first  emperors,  that  is,  during  a 
period  of  infinitely  more  unrelenting  tyranny, 
than  was  ever  exercised  by  the  worst  of 
popes :  that  the  population  of  Rome,  its 
neighborhood,  and  of  Italy  in  general,  was 
the  largest  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  and  his 
inhuman  successors,  when  not  only  private 
property,  but  the  lives  of  the  best  men,  were 
constantly  exposed  to  the  arbitrary  dictates 
of  a  capricious  tyrant. 

The  superiority,  therefore,  of  ancient  over 
modern  Rome  arose  from  the  same  cause, 
which,  though  in  a  much  less  degree,  pro- 
duces such  a  difference  between  London  and 
Paris,  and  the  adjacent  country  on  one  hand, 
and  the  remote  provinces  of  the  respective 
kingdoms  on  the  other.  If  the  conflux  of  in- 
habitants of  a  single  kingdom,  is  able  to 


276  APPENDIX. 

spread  such  an  air  of  magnificence  and 
amazing  population  round  the  capital,  can 
we  be  surprised  at  the  different  appearance 
of  Rome  and  its  environs,  at  the  period  when 
she  gave  laws  to  the  whole  world,  and  that, 
when  she  does  not  ex^^end  her  empire  over 
half  Italy. 

I  might  mention  many  other  causes  of  the 
present  decay  more  prevalent  than  the  in- 
dolence of  government ;  not  that  I  deny  this 
latter  to  have  no  part  in  producing  the  down- 
fall. Abuses  there  are  in  every  government, 
and  perhaps  they  are  the  greatest  where  the 
government  is  mildest. 


SEEMONS. 


The  discourses  from  the  pulpit,  and  the 
pastoral  letters  of  Archbishop  Carroll,  were 
alike  distinguished  for  their  unction  and 
classical  taste.  His  voice  being  naturally 
feeble,  the  exertions  which  he  made  to  be 
distinctly  heard  from  the  pulpit,  rendered  his 
elocution  less  agreeable  there  than  in  other 
situations,  requiring  less  force  of  lungs.  His 
colloquial  powers  and  resources,  were  great 
and  rich,  and  his  kind  and  benignant  feelings 
always  prompted  him  to  apply  them  to  the 
best  advantage.  There  was  an  irresistible 
charm  and  elegance  indeed  in  his  conversa- 
tions, with  whomsoever  and  upon  whatso- 
ever subject  carried  on,  that  characterised 
them  as  of  the  very  first  order. 

In  order  to  enable  the  reader  to  judge 
himself  as  to  the  merits  of  these  sermons, 
the  following  are  selected  from  the  many 
preached  by  the  Archbishop,  as  best  adapted 
for  that  purpose. 
24 


278  SERMONS. 

AD     MAJOREM    DEI     GLORIAM. 

Moses  indeed  said :  a  prophet  shall  the  Lord  your  (Jod  raise  up 
unto  you  out  of  your  brethren,  like  unto  me  :  him  you  shall  hear, 
according  to  all  things  whatsoever  he  shall  speak  to  you ;  and  it 
shall  be,  tliat  every  soul  that  shall  not  hear  that  prophet,  shall  be 
destroyed  from  among  the  people. — jIcU  iii.  22,  et  seq. 

Hitherto  the  cliief  object  of  those  religious 
instructions,  which  it  has  been  my  duty  to 
deliver  to  you,  dear  brethren,  was  to  imprint 
deeply  in  your  minds  the  principles,  and  to 
recommend  to  your  esteem,  love  and  prac- 
tice, the  precepts  of  christian  morality. 
Little  has  been  said  by  me,  to  convince  you 
of  the  truth  of  your  divine  religion;  because 
I  hoped  and  thought  that  all,  or  very  nearly 
all  of  you,  not  only  profe.ssed  outwardly,  but 
likewise  inwardly  believed  the  doctrines  of 
the  Christian  Catholic  Church.  With  this 
conviction  on  my  mind,  when  any  deviated 
unfortunately  into  the  ways  of  sinfulness,  I 
imputed  their  transgressions  to  human  frailty, 
and  ungoverned  passions,  and  not  to  the  dis- 
astrous lessons  of  infidelity.  But  shall  I  now^ 
disclose  my  fears,  and  openly  express  the 
suspicions  laboring  in  my  breast  ?  The  last 
time  of  discoursing  to  you  from  this  place, 
my  subject  led  me  to  make  a  few  observa- 
tions  on   the   imperfection    of   the    human 


SERMONS.  279 

understanding,  and  its  insufficiency  to  guide 
us,  not  only  in  all  points  concerning  the  doc- 
trines and  precepts  of  religion,  but  even  in 
those  which  form,  as  it  were,  the  very  ele- 
ments and  first  principles  of  faith  and  mo- 
rality. Reflecting  farther  on  that  subject,  I 
have  thought  it  advisable  and  likely  to  pro- 
duce many  beneficial  effects,  to  treat  it  more 
particularly,  that  you  may  be  more  con- 
vinced of  the  imperfections  of  the  human  un- 
derstanding, and  the  need  it  has  of  being  in- 
formed and  enlightened  by  the  splendor  of 
divine  revelation.  For  I  cannot  dissemble 
my  fears,  that  many  of  my  hearers  are  in- 
toxicated with  that  spirit  of  presumptive 
infidelity,  which  inspires  a  daring  confidence 
in  themselves,  and  a  bold  assurance  that 
they  need  no  other  direction  besides  that 
which  their  own  reason  suggests  to  them. 
After  seeing  with  anxiety  and  grief,  that  the 
many  powerful  means  employed  by  God's 
merciful  Providence,  (over  you)  are  far  from 
having  produced  an  universal  reformation, 
or  begotten  an  attention  so  general,  and 
such  a  solicitude  for  salvation,  as  your  best 
interests  require  ;  may  I  not  reasonably  fear, 
that  the  oiii  ds  of  some  are  poisoned  with 


280  SERMONS. 

error,  and   Iiave   imbibed   the   doctrines   of 
irreligion,  especially   when   I   consider    the 
close  alliance  subsisting  between  licentious- 
ness of  manners,  and  a  contemptuous  disre- 
gard for  the  most  sacred  institutions,  derived 
mediately  or  immediately  from  the  revealed 
word  of  God ;  when  daring  unbelievers  by 
advancing  propositions,  more   blasphemous, 
if  possible,  than  they  are  extravagant,  as- 
sume  in   society  a  preponderance   and  au- 
tliority,  of  which  they  avail  themselves,  to 
infuse  into  others  an  impious  ambition  of  be- 
coming ac(?omplices  in  their  guilt  ?     What- 
ever effect  these  vain  and  ostentatious  ene- 
mies of  truth  and  morality  may  have  pro- 
duced in  you,  it  cannot  be  amiss  to  put  you 
on  your  guard  against  the  shafts  of  their  pro- 
faneness  and  impiety.     I  therefore  in  my  text 
address  you,  in  the  language  adopted  by  the 
prince  of  the  apostles,  St.  Peter,  when  in  the 
very  birth  of  Christianity,  he  explained  to  the 
Jews  the  evidences  of  its  truth.     He  reminds 
them,  that  their  own  legislator  Moses,  bore 
testimony  in  favor  of  Jesus  Christ,  of  whom 
it  was  foretold  in  the  law,  that  he  should  be 
endowed  with  the  powers  and  all  means  ne- 
cessary for   authenticating  his  divine  com- 


SERMONS.  281 

mission,  to  teach  and  reform  mankind,  that 
it  should  be  the  duty  of  all  to  hear  him  in  tJte 
things,  whatever  he  should  speak  to  them  ; 
and  that  every  soul  refusing  to  hear  him 
should  be  destroyed.     These  are  momentous 
points,  and  highly  deserving  your  utmost  at- 
tention ;  for  unless   you  be   intimately  con- 
vinced of  the  existence  of  religion,  and  your 
obligation  to   believe  it,  and  submit  to   its 
laws,  the  lessons  of  morality  can  have  no 
hold  on  your  hearts.     I  purpose,  therefore, 
with  God's  assistance,  to  prove  that  divine 
revelation  is  necessary  to  make  known  to 
mankind,  with  sufficient  clearness,  and  es- 
tablish upon  sufficient  authority,  even  some 
of  the  first  principles  of  the  law  of  nature, 
and  secondly,  that  the  law  of  nature,  as  far 
as  it  is  discoverable  by  the  powers  of  human 
reason  alone,  leaves  us  ignorant  of,  and  un- 
certain in  many  points  of  our  duty  to  God, 
on  which  our  happiness  essentially  depends. 
These  propositions  being  proved,  the  result 
must  be  this :  if  a  Divine  revelation  be  ne- 
cessary for  purposes  so  highly  important,  to 
deny  that  God  has  favored  mankind  with  it, 
is  an  impious  denial  of  his  goodness  and  sin- 
cere good  will  to  bestow  happiness  on  his 
24* 


282  SERMONS. 

rational  creatures,  the  works  of  his  own 
liands.  True  religion  lays  a  perpetual  res- 
traint on  every  inordinate  passion,  and  in- 
flexibly condemns  all  injustice,  pride,  oppres- 
sion and  intemperate  sensualities.  This  is 
the  cause  of  the  opposition  it  meets  with, 
and  of  the  hatred  with  which  it  has  been 
calumniated  and  insulted  in  every  age  and 
country,  by  men  abandoned  to  their  lusts, 
and  puffed  up  with  pride  and  a  vain  conceit 
of  the  eminence  of  their  own  understandings. 
Various  are  their  devices  to  free  themselves 
from  the  yoke,  the  restraints  and  the  terrors 
imposed  on  them  by  religion.  Sometimes 
they  attempt  to  discard  it  altogether  by  im- 
piously denying  the  existence  of  that  Su- 
preme Being,  who  is  its  only  author  and  ob- 
ject. But  the  language  of  these  infidels  is 
regarded  by  the  royal  prophet,  as  proceeding 
not  so  much  from  the  persuasion  of  their 
minds,  as  the  corruption  of  their  hearts,  and 
from  the  folly  and  blindness  generated  by 
shameful  and  disorderly  lusts  and  passions. 
The  fool,  as  it  is  expressed  by  the  royal  pro- 
phet, said  in  his  heart,  there  is  no  God. 

Other  enemies  of  religion,  equally  impa- 
tient of  its  control  over  their  haughty  minds 


SERMONS. 


283 


and  unruly  desires,  suggest  different  means  of 
withdrawing  themselves  from  a   subjection 
to  its  precepts.     Instead  of  denying  that  we 
know  any  thing  of  God  and  his  perfections, 
of  our  obligations  to  honor  him,  and  of  our 
relative  duties  to  our  fellow-creatures,  they 
pretend  on  the  contrary,  that  we  know  every 
thing  necessary  in  these  respects,  by  the  ex- 
ercise alone  of  those  natural  faculties   and 
that  portion  of  reason,  which  are  granted  to 
every  man ;   that   by   employing  these,  we 
may  learn  the  few  principles,  to  which  they 
reduce  all  religion,  and  which,  therefore,  is 
called  natural  religion.     Of  this   they  pro- 
claim the  sufficiency  for  all  the  purposes  of 
worship   and   morality ;    they  celebrate   its 
praises,  and  set  themselves  up  for  its  most 
zealous  advocates  and  champions  ;  and  under 
this  mask,  they  insinuate  the  poison  of  their 
tenets   into    incautious   minds.      For  while 
they  extol  the  merit  and  dignity  of  natural 
religion,  their  zeal  and  malicious  purpose  is, 
to    inculcate   a   persuasion   that  any  other 
manifestation  of  God's  being  and  providence, 
any  other  injunctions  of  his  will,  are  useless 
and  unnecessary,  consequently  that  there  is 
no  revealed  religion,  and  that  all  pretensions 


284  SERMONS. 

to  it  are  false  and  interested  impositions. 
After  enumerating  the  few  articles  compre- 
hended in  this  all-sufficient  religion,  behold, 
says  one  of  the  principals  of  this  sect  (Rous- 
seau) the  only  true  religion,  which  is  not  liable 
to  be  perverted  by  impiety  or  fanaticism. 
Besides  this,  every  tiling  else  is  foreign  to  us. 

This  is  that  first  capital  error  against 
which,  with  the  Divine  Assistance,  I  am  to 
warn  you  this  day. 

Allowing  then  to  infidelity  more  advan- 
tages than  she  has  a  right  to  claim,  I  will 
suppose  for  the  present  (though  this  will  be 
proved  false  in  the  sequel  of  our  enquiries,) 
that  the  only  principles  of  knowledge  and 
morality  necessary  to  our  happiness  are 
these:  that  there  is  a  Supreme  Being,  the 
arbiter  and  disposer  of  all  human  things,  w^ho 
commands  justice,  truth  and  mutual  love 
of  one  for  the  other  ;  and  that  there  is  a  state 
of  existence  after  this  life,  in  which  the  Su- 
preme Being  will  dispense  rewards  and  pun- 
ishments, according  to  each  man's  deserts. 
Religion  cannot  surely  be  reduced  into  a  nar- 
nower  compass  than  this,  and  with  respect 
to  the  necessity  of  believing  these  articles, 
St.  Paul  agrees  with  the  enemies  of  revela- 


SERMONS.  285 

tion.  But  they  think  and  assert  that  these 
points  are  sufficiently  known  and  enforced 
by  the  natural  lights  of  reason  alone; 
whereas  the  apostle  teaches,  and  you,  my 
dear  brethren,  will  be  convinced,  I  hope, 
that  unless  the  additional  authority  of  God's 
word  come  in  aid  of  the  weakness  of  our  un- 
derstandings, mankind,  in  general,  connot 
acquire  such  a  certainty  of  these  fundamen- 
tal articles  of  religion,  as  will  be  sufficient  to 
insure  their  obedience  and  support  their 
hopes. 

I  am  far  from  deprecating  that  precious 
gift  of  God,  human  reason  ;  or  from  asserting, 
that  it  must  always  be  involved  in  error  and 
uncertainty.  But  it  is  so  liable  to  be  blinded 
by  passion,  to  be  warped  by  prejudices,  to 
be  bewildered  by  the  subtleties  and  contra- 
dictions amongst  mankind,  that  it  cannot 
teach  with  sufficient  evidence,  or  prescribe 
with  sufficient  authority  the  necessary  truths 
and  duties  just  now  enumerated.  The 
proofs  of  this  are  to  be  found  in  the  weak- 
nesses, the  passions,  and  the  history  of  man- 
kind ;  for  though  we  should  grant  that  some, 
endowed  with  superior  talents,  and  favored 
with  the  advantages  of  leisure  and  education, 


286  SERMONS. 

are   able   to  discover   the   existence,  unity, 
power  and  wisdom  of  God  ;  his  providential 
superintendence  over  the  works  of  his  crea- 
tion, and  the  convincing  reasons  for  believ- 
ing in  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punish- 
ments, yet  is  it  not  evident  at  the  same  time, 
that,  comparatively  speaking,   few  will   be 
able  to  investigate  these  important  truths  ? 
and  consequently  that  with  respect   to  all 
others,  that  is,  to  the  great  bulk  of  mankind, 
their  reason  will  be  a  most  defective  guide  ? 
For  many  things  concur  to  render  them  in- 
capable of  and  unfit  for  that  application  of 
mind,  without  which  the  very  fundamental 
points  of  religion  and  morality,  cannot  be  in- 
vestigated  and    understood    sufficiently,   to 
command  our  belief  and  practice.     Many  are 
incapable  through  bodily  indisposition,  many 
more   are   rendered   so  by  the  necessity  of 
providing  for  the  subsistence  of  their  fami- 
lies, and  by  unavoidable   occupations  inci- 
dent to  their  conditions  of  life,  and   have 
neither  time  nor  opportunity  to  make  those 
deep  researches,  without  which  they  must 
remain  ignorant,  in  a  great  degree,  of  the 
things  most  needful  to  be  know^n,  respecting 
God,  their  own  duties,  and  the  end  of  their 


SERMONS,  287 

creation.  I  mention  no  other  obstacles,  to 
prevent  the  researches  and  discoveries  of  the 
human  understanding  when  left  to  its  own 
natural  powers,  besides  these,  which  extend 
to  so  large  a  portion  of  mankind,  as  evidently 
to  demonstrate  the  necessity  of  other  means 
of  information,  than  those  of  reason  alone. 
Can  any  judicious  and  reflecting  mind  per- 
suade itself,  that  the  multitude,  who  have  to 
struggle  with  these  obstacles,  whose  progress 
in  knowledge  must  be  retarded  by  them  at 
every  step,  will  be  able  to  discover  suffi- 
ciently, not  only  the  existence,  but  the  na- 
ture and  providence  of  God,  and  our  account- 
ability to  him  ? 

A  farther  proof  of  the  necessity  of  a  su- 
perior direction  is  this  :  that  these  compara- 
tively few  persons,  to  whom  leisure,  educa- 
tion and  supereminent  talents,  are  not 
wanting  to  explore  the  essential  truths  of 
natural  religion,  cannot  nevertheless  succeed 
in  their  enquiries,  without  much  and  long  in- 
vestigation ;  during  the  whole  period  of 
which,  as  their  understanding  is  in  a  per- 
petual statxe  of  fluctuation,  so  their  moral 
conduct  must  be  without  any  invariable  rule 
and  direction.     For  in  the  first  place,  even 


288  SERMONS. 

the  brightest  and  most  penetrating  geniuses, 
must  meditate  long  on  God's  nature  and  at- 
tributes ;  on  the  qualities  of  the  human  soul ; 
on  the  powers  of  our  mind ;  on  the  differ- 
ences of  virtue  and  vice,  and  the  future  condi- 
tion of  the  good  and  wicked,  before  they  can 
be  fully  satisfied  (if  ever  they  are  satisfied) 
of  the  truth  of  their  speculations.  In  the 
meantime,  that  is,  during  a  great  part  of  their 
lives,  they  would  be  floating  on  the  waves 
of  doubt  and  uncertainty,  without  sufficient 
motives  to  cherish  virtue  or  fly  from  vice, 
unless  God  enlightened  them,  and  by  his 
divine  revelation,  compensated  the  imperfec- 
tions and  slow  progress  of  human  reason. 

Again  ;  •  no  time  of  life  requires  to  be  go- 
verned and  restrained  by  fixed  and  indubita- 
ble principles  and  precepts,  so  much  as  that 
of  our  youthful  years,  when  all  our  passions 
are  in  a  state  of  ferment,  and  agitated  by  the 
tempests  of  most  boisterous  and  tumultuous 
desires.  Is  this  period  of  our  existence 
adapted  to  the  cool,  unbiassed  and  elaborate 
enquiries  and  meditation,  necessary  to  dis- 
cover and  demonstrate  the  essential  truths 
of  natural  religion  ?  Experience  teaches  on 
the  contrary,  that  however   favorable  the 


SERMONS.  289 

season  of  youth  may  be  to  the  cultivation  of 
those  sciences  and  those  literary  pursuits, 
which  please  and  embellish  the  imagination, 
it  is  nevertheless  the  most  unfit  for  the  study 
of  that  sacred  morality,  that  divine  philoso- 
phy w^hich  requires  stability  of  thought  and 
maturity  of  reflection.  To  gain  their  entire 
belief,  and  obtain  their  obedience,  truth 
must  be  manifested,  and  come  recommended 
to  them  by  an  irrefragable,  a  much  higher 
authority,  and  more  persuasive  influence  than 
the  dubious  and  controverted  opinions  of 
men,  distrustful  themselves,  if  they  be  truly 
learned  and  modest ;  or  disgustful  by  their 
rash  confidence,  if  they  be  presumptuous. 
Behold  then  another  convincing  proof  of  the 
necessity  of  a  Divine  revelation,  to  supply  the 
defects  of  the  mere  natural  powers  of  human 
reason. 

To  evince  more  fully  this  necessity,  the 
best  argument  which  I  shall  now  draw  from 
the  imperfection  of  the  human  mind,  is  this  : 
if  some,  after  much  investigation,  come  at 
length  to  a  demonstration  of  the  first  prin- 
ciples of  religion  and  morality,  yet  they  are 
never  able  to  form  any  regular  and  con- 
sistent system  of  either ;  the  reason  is, 
25 


290  SERMONS. 

because  they  mix  and  disfigure  the  truth 
with  many  fatal  errors,  as  will  be  shown  not 
only  by  the  history  of  the  most  eminent  sages 
of  antiquity,  who  were  not  enlightened  by 
the  torch  of  revelation,  but  like  wise  by  the 
example  of  modern  unbelievers,  who  extin- 
guish it  in  their  hearts  and  vainly  undertake 
to  find  their  way  without  its  direction.  St. 
Paul  speaks  of  such  in  his  first  chapter  to  the 
Romans,  ichofrom  the  creation  of  the  world — 
. . .  when  tJiey  had  known  God,  glorified  him, 
not  as  God . . .  but  became  vain  in  their 
thoiigJits,  and  their  foolish  liearts  loere  dark- 
ened   who  changed  the  truth  of  God  into 

a  lie. 

If  any  doubts  can  yet  remain  on  our  minds 
of  the  necessity  of  a  Divine  revelation,  these 
must  vanish,  when  we  consider  the  endless 
uncertainties,  and  inconceivable  errors  of  the 
wisest  amongst  the  ancients,  who  were  not 
favored  with  the  knowledge  of  it,  and  of 
those  most  celebrated  wits  of  our  own  times, 
who  rejected  the  truths  which  God  in  his 
mercy  has  displayed  before  them.  To  begin 
with  the  ancients:  Socrates  universally  es- 
teemed us  the  wisest  of  the  heathen  world, 
after  having  discovered  by  the  acuteness  of 


SERMONS.  291 

his  mind,  and  the  penetration  of  his  intel- 
lectual powers,  the  existence  and  many  of 
the  perfections  of  the  one,  only  God,  affords 
us  nevertheless  a  memorable  instance  of  the 
darkness  in  which  human  reason,  unassisted 
by  revelation,  leaves  the  mind  involved. 
For  this  eminent  sage,  after  all  his  re- 
searches into,  and  discoveries  of  God's  nature 
and  attributes,  being  at  the  point  of  death, 
had  the  weakness,  and  thought  it  his  duty  to 
comply  with  the  popular  superstition  of  his 
country,  and  command  a  sacrifice  to  one  of 
its  false  divinities  ;  nor  was  this  all ;  for  after 
many  sublime  speculations  and  discourses  on 
the  nature  and  immortality  of  the  human 
soul,  his  very  last  words  are  expressive  of 
the  greatest  uncertainty  respecting  this  very 
point — I  mean  a  state  of  future  existence ; 
without  the  firm  belief  of  which,  it  is  evident 
there  can  be  no  religion ;  none  at  least  to 
deter  us  from  the  commission  of  vice,  or  en- 
courage us  in  the  practice  of  virtue. 

If  such  were  the  errors  and  uncertainties 
of  so  great  a  master  in  the  faculty  and  art  of 
reasoning  as  Socrates,  we  can  be  less  sur- 
prised that  other  eminent  philosophers  of 
Greece  and  Rome  blended  so  many  grievous 


292  SERMONS. 

errors  with  the  few  religious  truths  dis- 
covered by  them ;  not  only  speculative  but 
practical  errors,  pregnant  with  the  greatest 
corruption  of  manners.  The  splendid  tal- 
ents and  unrivalled  elegance  of  Plato,  could 
not  preserve  him  from  such  astonishing  blind- 
ness of  understanding,  that  he  recommended 
and  advocated  the  practice  of  the  most  exe- 
crable and  unnatural  vices ;  such  vices,  as 
every  christian,  blessed  with  the  light  of 
revelation,  not  only  trembles  to  commit,  but 
even  blushes  to  hear  mentioned. 

Let  us  now  turn  our  eyes  from  ancient 
philosophers  and  sages,  to  contemplate  the 
infidels  of  a  later  date,  and  those  of  our  own 
times.  Here  we  shall  meet  a  still  more  sen- 
sible demonstration  of  the  insufficiency  of 
human  reason.  To  evidence  this,  I  will 
select  for  your  information  a  few  examples 
from  the  history  and  writings  of  those  men 
whom  the  tribe  of  deists  venerate  as  pre- 
eminent in  talents  and  wisdom.  In  the  first 
place,  it  appears  evident  to  the  christian,  and 
I  may  say  farther,  that  if  the  light  of  nature 
alone  makes  evident  any  one  principle  of 
morality,  it  is  this,  that  human  liberty  is  ne- 
cessary to  the  morality  of  human  actions; 


SERMONS,  293 

that  it  is  incompatible  with  the  divine  jus- 
tice, to  make  man  accountable  and  liable  to 
punishment    for    doing    or    omitting    those 
things  which  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  avoid 
doing  or  omitting ;  and  to  which  he  is  com- 
pelled by  the  necessity  of  his  nature  and  the 
circumstances  attending  him,  or  by  the  de- 
crees and  ordering  of  God  himself:  that  if 
man  enjoy  no  power  of  self-determination, 
he  cannot  be  a  moral  agent,  and  those  things 
which  always  have  been  deemed  the  great- 
est enormities,  as  murders,  parricides,  incests, 
would  be,  in  the  estimation  of  right  reason, 
no  crimes  at  all,  if  he  who  committed  them 
was  compelled  by  commanding  and  irresisti- 
ble necessity.     What  a  dreadful  perversion 
of  order,  what  an  inundation  of  the   most 
horrible  excesses  would  break  in  upon  the 
world,  if  these  opinions  had  general  preva- 
lence ?     But  fatal  as  is  their  tendency,  these 
are  the  doctrines  of  many  of  the  most  famous 
modern  enemies  of  revelation.  None  amongst 
them  have  surpassed  Hume   in   subtlety  of 
argument  and   acuteness  of  understanding. 
Yet  having  discarded  revelation,  and   dis- 
daining to  follow  any  other  guide  than  his 
own  reasoning  faculty,  he  not  only  asserts 
25* 


294  SERMONS. 

without  ambiguity,  but  employs  all  his  tal- 
ents to  prove,  that  mankind  act  continually 
under  the  influence  of  necessity ;  that  they 
reallv  enjoy  no  freedom  of  determination, 
and  that  they  are  always  under  a  delusion, 
while  they  imagine  themselves  to  enjoy  per- 
fect liberty. 

Again,  vice  in  this  world  is  generally  so 
elevated  and  virtue  so  depressed ;  so  many 
are  the  enjoyments  of  the  wicked,  whom  no 
considerations  of  conscience  restrain,  and  so 
continual  are  the  self-denials  which  a  sense 
of  duty  imposes    on   the   good,   that  there 
would  be  no  consolation  for  the  latter,  if  the 
belief  of  a  future  state  and  of  the  immortal- 
ity of  their  souls  did  not  support  their  hopes, 
and  certify  to  them,  that  all  the  seeming  dis- 
orders and  irregularities  of  this  life,  would 
be  rectified  by  a  just  and  righteous  God  in 
the  life  to  come.     But  what  do  we  learn  on 
this  important  point  from  modern  infidelity  ? 
If  we  consult  another  of  its  greatest  lights ; 
one,  whose  brilliant  talents  have  been  cele- 
brated with  the  most  exalted  encomiums,  we 
find  nothing  but  uncertainty  and  discourage- 
ment respecting    a    tenet   so  necessary   to 
morality,  so  essential  to  the  encouragement 


SERMONS.  295 

of  virtue.  This  great  man's  reason  could 
discover  no  sufficient  proof  of  a  future  state. 
Ah !  my  brethren,  w^ho  sees  not  in  this  ac- 
knowledgment the  necessity  of  Divine  reve- 
lation ?  Nor  does  Bolingbroke  alone  betray 
the  state  of  uncertainty  and  doubt  in  so 
capital  an  article.  Almost  all  other  advo- 
cates for  the  sufficiency  of  natural  reason, 
hold  the  same  language.  The  unbelieving 
Voltaire,  he,  whose  writings  are  so  widely 
diffused  to  the  destruction  of  religion  and 
manners,  endeavors  continually  to  raise 
doubts  to  obscure  the  doctrine  of  immor- 
tality. His  numerous  disciples  have  caught 
his  spirit,  and  sometimes  lament,  with  hypo- 
critical concern,  that  a  doctrine  so  full  of 
comfort,  remains  so  full  of  doubt ;  whereas 
in  their  hearts  they  wish  nothing  so  much, 
as  that  it  may  be  false,  having  all  to  fear 
from  its  truth.  You  remember,  my  christian 
brethren,  to  have  read  with  horror  some 
years  ago,  a  particular  account  of  the  deaths 
of  more  than  twenty  of  these  apostates  to 
anti-christian  philosophy,  who  were  sacri- 
ficed at  the  same  time  to  the  vengeance  of  a 
faction,  more  powerful  and  sanguinary  than 
themselves ;  when  they  were  at  the  instant 


296  SERMONS. 

of  their  execution,  when  their  heads  were 
just  ready  to  be  laid  under  the  fatal  instru- 
ment, instead  of  disposing  themselves  for 
reconciliation  with  the  great  judge  of  man- 
kind, they  affected  to  discuss  the  reasons 
for  and  against  a  future  state,  and  closed 
their  existence  here  with  expressions  of  the 
utmost  uncertainty  respecting  any  existence 
liereafter.  Yet,  by  all  accounts,  these  men 
had  great  endowments  from  nature,  and  had 
cultivated  them  by  the  study  of  every  human 
science.  After  these  memorable  examples, 
who  will  be  bold  enough  to  assert  the  suffi- 
ciency of  human  reason  for  all  the  purposes 
of  morality  and  religion  ?  Indeed,  so  many 
evidences  have  occurred  in  these  our  times, 
not  only  of  the  advantages,  but  absolute  ne- 
cessity of  revelation,  that  the  sincere  friend 
of  religion  feels  one  comfort  amidst  all  his 
disasters.  He  consoles  himself  with  this  re- 
flection, that  perhaps  Divine  Providence  has 
permitted  some  of  the  first  geniuses  of  the  age 
to  pursue  without  restraint,  their  own  sys- 
tems and  speculations,  that  we  might  take 
instruction  from  their  fatal  and  monstrous 
errors,  and  learn  how  deeply  we  are  inter- 
ested in  having  for  our  guide  in  the  way  of 


SERMONS.  297 

salvation,  a  more  study  rule  than  the  natural 
lights  of  the  most  famed  philosophers.  To 
give  this  lesson  was  w^orthy  of  divine  wis- 
dom; especially  in  an  age  when  infidelity 
and  a  contemptuous  disregard  for  the  revela- 
tion and  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  were  laying 
waste  his  kingdom  on  earth,  his  glorious  in- 
heritance, and  threatening  to  extirpate  from 
the  world  all  respect  for  his  law  and  most 
holy  name.  And  we  may  hope  that  infinite 
wisdom,  drawing  good  out  of  evil,  will  make 
the  delusions  themselves  of  anti-christian 
skepticism,  and  the  extravagance  of  its  er- 
rors, the  very  means  of  its  total  overthrow, 
by  discovering  to  all  men  the  depth  of 
misery  into  which  we  should  be  plunged 
without  the  cheering  light  of  revelation. 

However  demonstrative  of  this  truth,  the 
examples  hitherto  adduced  are,  yet  I  must 
beg  leave  to  trespass  on  your  patience,  by 
alleging  one  more,  which  places  this  point, 
if  possible,  in  a  still  stronger  light.  Accus- 
tomed, as  we  are  from  our  infancy,  to  consi- 
der and  honor  God  as  the  source  of  goodness 
and  justice,  and  experiencing  many  effects  of 
these  divine  attributes  in  the  providence 
exercised  over    ourselves   and    others,   we 


298  SERMONS. 

naturally  conclude  that  every  human  crea- 
ture must  confess,  that  justice  and  goodness 
are  inseparable  from  the  Supreme  Being ; 
and  that  we  need  consult  no  other  light 
than  natural  reason,  to  be  firmly  convinced 
of  it,  and  certainly  without  a  firm  persuasion 
that  God  is  possessed  of  these  perfections, 
tlie  whole  race  of  mankind  would  be  ex- 
posed to  the  most  outrageous  violence,  all 
peace  would  be  banished,  all  confidence 
destroyed,  and  life  itself,  instead  of  being  a 
blessing,  would  be  our  most  grievous  misfor- 
tune. All  this,  notwithstanding,  if  we  turn 
to  those  luminaries  of  the  modern  world,  who 
are  said  to  have  diffused  a  splendor  over  the 
present  age,  greater  than  ever  enlightened 
any  other,  do  we  find  that  their  writings  il- 
lustrate this  fundamental  doctrine  of  morali- 
ty, this  consolatory  truth,  the  great  Master 
and  Lord  of  the  universe,  is  infinitely  good^ 
and  infinitely  jws^?  No,  my  christian  breth- 
ren, I  am  sure  that  you  will  hear  me  with 
astonishment.  Almost  all  these  famed  phi- 
losophers spread  doubts  and  uncertainty  re- 
specting this  subject,  and  employ  the  subtlety 
of  their  understandings,  to  prove  that  there 
is  no  sufficient  evidence  of  wisdom  and  jus- 


SERMONS.  299 

tice  appertaining  to  the  All-powerful  God. 
This  they  expressly  teach,  and  make  this 
doctrine  the  basis  of  many  other  impious 
opinions,  tending  to  remove  every  barrier 
against  vice,  and  to  damp  all  ardor  for  im- 
provement, or  perseverance  in  virtue.  After 
exhibiting  these  almost  incredible  and  per- 
nicious errors  of  the  great  leaders  in  the 
cause  of  infidelity,  I  need  insist  no  farther 
on  the  manifest  insufficiency  of  reason  alone, 
to  teach  us  all  the  necessary  points  of  even 
the  law  and  religion  of  nature. 

From  the  observations  already  made,  may 
I  not  hope,  that  you  both  feel,  and  will  tes- 
tify the  most  sincere  gratitude  and  reverence 
to  that  Divine  Person,  who  enlighteneth  every 
man  coming  into  this  world  ?  (John  i.  9)  who 
has  spread  the  effulgence  of  revelation  over 
the  face  of  the  earth,  and  has  not  left  us  to 
grope  in  darkness,  or  afforded  only  the  dim 
light  of  reason  to  search  into  the  ways  of 
truth  and  life,  but  the  grace  of  God,  our  Sa- 
viour,  has  appeared  to  all  men,  instructing 
us,  that  renouncing  impiety  and.  worldly  de- 
sires, we  should  live  soberly,  and  piously,  and 
justly  in  this  world,  waiting  for  the  blessed 
hope,  and  coming  of  the  glory  of  the  great 


300  SERMONS. 

God^  and  our  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  Titus 
ii.  7,  et  seq.  With  this  impression  on  your 
minds,  you  will  not  only  be  prepared  to  re- 
sist the  insidious  and  poisonous  lessons  of  in- 
fidelity, but  you  will  even  refuse  to  hear 
them.  Expose  not  yourselves  to  the  artful 
seduction  of  books  destined  to  weaken  and 
extinguish  your  fiiith.  Be  not  misled  by  that 
miserable  sophistry,  which  pretends  that 
none  should  be  afraid  of  reading  works,  how- 
ever hostile  to  religion,  that  to  be  convinced 
of  its  truth,  they  should  know  the  objections 
raised  against  it.  What?  is  there  no  other 
way  of  being  acquainted  with  the  malignity 
of  poison,  but  by  drinking  it  up  ?  Are  not 
the  evidences  of  divine  revelation  so  many 
and  convincing,  that  we  may  safely  and 
firmly  believe  it  without  searching  to  know 
whatever  pride  and  licentiousness  have  de- 
vised to  oppose  it  ?  Let  it  be  your  duty  to 
fly  from  danger,  which  many  of  you  are  not 
prepared  to  encounter.  Let  humility  of 
faith  be  your  shelter  and  safe-guard.  In 
this  most  important  concern,  bear  in  your 
mind  these  words  of  my  text :  it  shall  be,  that 
every  soul  which  will  not  hear  that  Prophet 
whom  the  Lord  God  hath  sent,  shall  be  de- 


SERMONS.  301 

stroyed  from  among  the  people :  that  is,  they 
who  reject  his  doctrines  shall  not  belong  to 
the  chosen  race,  destined  to  the  possession 
of  an  everlasting  inheritance  of  glory.  May 
God  vouchsafe  to  rescue  us,  at  least,  from 
that  fatal  destruction,  and  save  us  in  his 
mercy,  through  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Amen.  deo  gratias. 


AD    MAJOREM    DEI    GLORIAM. 

January  17,  1802. 

There  was  a  marriage  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  and  the  mother  of  Je- 
sus was  there,  and  Jesus  also  was  invited. — John  ii.  1,  2. 

A  MARRIAGE,  honored  with  the  presence  of 
Jesus  and  Mary,  must  have  been  attended 
with  uncommon  blessings ;  and  though  the 
gospel  gives  no  further  account  of  the  subse- 
quent lives  and  conduct  of  the  persons 
whose  union  was  formed  with  such  happy 
auspices,  yet  there  is  every  reason  to  sup- 
pose, that  the  graces  bestowed  on  them  by 
and  through  Jesus  Christ,  inspired  into  their 
hearts,  and  preserved  ever  afterwards  those 
dispositions,  which  exhibit  the  excellency 
and  perfection  of  a  married  state.  This, 
26 


302  SERMONS. 

according  to  the  appointment  and  direction 
of  Divine  Providence,  is  the  general  state  of 
mankind  ;  and  therefore  it  is  proper  and  use- 
ful for  christians  to  know  and  reflect  on  those 
points  of  duty,  which  previous  to,  and  after 
their  matrimonial  union,  are  necessary  to 
render  it  acceptable  to  God,  and  fortunate  to 
themselves.  It  is  a  painful  and  melancholy 
consideration,  that  so  many  marriages  should 
be  followed  by  such  unhappiness,  as  we  all 
frequently  may  witness;  and  that  the  closest 
connection,  ordained  by  heaven,  to  be  formed 
between  two  persons,  and  which  therefore 
should  be  the  cement  of  their  tenderest  af- 
fections, generates  so  often  the  fiercest  con- 
tentions, reproaches,  and  envenomed  hatred. 
It  would  betray  a  great  ignorance  of  human 
nature,  to  say  that  the  universal  and  sole 
cause  of  such  misfortunes  is  an  inattention 
to,  and  neglect  of  those  important  lessons 
concerning  matrimony,  which  are  given  in 
the  gospels,  and  other  books  of  scripture. 
The  natural  perversity  of  tempers,  and  dif- 
ference of  characters  contribute  likewise,  no 
doubt,  to  poison  the  happiness  of  a  married 
state;  and  experience  as  well  as  religion, 
concur  in  evincing  the  truth  of  the  doctrine 


SERMONS.  303 

of  the  apostle,  that  though  maniage  be 
honorable  (Heb.  13,)  yet  it  imposes  a  yoke 
and  a  harden ;  though  it  be  a  great  sacra- 
ment . . .  in  Christ  and  the  church  (Eph.  5,) 
yet  they  who  receive  it,  shall  suffer  tribula- 
tion of  the  fleshy  (1  Cor.  7);  in  a  word, 
though  it  be  an  institution  of  God,  yet  that 
there  is  another  condition  and  state  of  life, 
more  sublime  and  excellent  in  its  nature,  of 
which  our  divine  Saviour  spoke,  when  he 
said :  All  men  i^eceive  not  this  icord ;  hut  they 

to  ichom  it  is  given he,  ivho  can  receive 

it,  let  him  receive  it. — Matt.  xix.  11,  12. 

If  even  common  observation  did  not  give 
sufficient  evidence  of  a  painful  truth,  we 
might  learn  from  these  expressions  of  holy 
writ,  that  the  ways  of  matrimony  are  not 
strewed  with  roses  only,  as  rash  and  head- 
long youth  often  persuade  themselves ;  but 
that  they  are  likewise  beset  with  thorns  and 
briars,  to  incommode,  and,  alas !  often  griev- 
ously to  harass  those  who  engage  in  it. 
What  counsel,  my  dear  brethren,  can  avail 
you  in  this  situation  ?  It  becomes  our  min- 
istry to  suggest  none  from  this  place,  but 
that  which  collected  from  the  doctrines  of 
eternal  wisdom,  establishes  rules  of  conduct 


304  SERMONS. 

for  every  lawful  condition  of  life.  Having 
these  present  to  my  mind,  I  shall  consider 
vou  as  divided  into  two  classes :  one  con- 
sisting of  those,  who  are  in  a  single  state, 
but  contemplate  a  married  one,  as  that  which 
will  form  the  destiny  of  their  future  lives; 
the  other,  of  those  who  are  engaged  in  it  al- 
ready. To  the  first,  this  discourse  will  be 
addressed.  Being  fully  sensible  of  the  deli- 
cacy of  the  subject,  I  will  endeavor,  with 
God's  help,  so  to  treat  it,  as  neither  to  give 
offence  to  the  chastest  ear,  nor  derogate  from 
the  dignity  of  the  sacred  ministry,  which 
I  am  now  called  to  perform. 

The  comprehensive  wMsdom  of  Almighty 
God  adapts  that  religion,  of  Avhich  he  is  the 
author,  and  which  alone  deserves  to  be  dig- 
nified bv  that  honorable  appellation,  to  the 
improvement  and  perfection  of  his  rational 
creatures,  in  all  their  stages  through  life,  and 
in  the  different  permanent  states  and  condi- 
tions in  which  they  lawfully  engage  them- 
selves. To  view  religion  in  this  light,  is  to 
place  it  in  one  of  its  sublimest  attitudes; 
diffusinsr  its  directions  and  benefits  on  the 
children  of  men,  from  their  birth  into  this 


SERMONS.  305 

world,  to  their  departure  for  eternity ;  re- 
generating them  by  baptism ;  fortifying,  in  the 
sacrament  of  confirmation,  their  faith,  and 
perfecting  their  infant  virtues,  by  infusing  all 
the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  in  the  Eucharist, 
nourishing  their  languishing  souls  with  the 
bread  of  angels ;  repairing  their  lost  inno- 
cence and  reconciling  them  anew  to  heaven, 
by  the  sacred  and  merciful  institution  of 
penance ;  assuaging  their  anguish,  and  en- 
couraging their  hope  in  the  agonies  of  sick- 
ness, by  prayer  and  the  consecrated  unc- 
tion ;  and  finally,  sanctifying  that  union 
which  preserves  the  perpetuity  of  human 
kind,  by  elevating  it  to  the  character  and 
dignity  of  a  sacrament,  and  becoming  a  re- 
presentation of  that  indissoluble  union,  which 
subsists  between  Christ  and  his  church.  Is 
it  possible  to  furnish  a  more  exalted  idea  of 
matrimony,  than  is  thus  stirred  up  in  our 
minds,  when  we  consider  this  sublime  rela- 
tion which  it  bears  to  Christ  espoused  to  his 
church  ?  Whilst  heathens  and  carnal  men 
view  it  only  with  reference  to  the  gratifica- 
tion of  their  sensual  desires  ;  whilst  worldly 
policy  only  calculates  its  advantages,  rela- 
tively to  the  artificial  combinations  of  civil 
26* 


306  SERMONS. 

society,  Christianity  ennobles  the  matrimonial 
union,  by  annexing  to  it  a  religious  and  most 
sacred  signification ;  it  disengages  it,  as  I 
may  say,  from  the  contagion  of  being  formed 
merely  for  the  low  and  grovelling  purposes 
of  sensuality,  and  of  carnal  wisdom. 

It  is  thus,  my  dear  brethren,  that  you,  who 
are  destined  to  enter  hereafter  into  a  mar- 
ried state,  should  view  the  contract  which 
will  bind  you  during  life.  You  are  clirist- 
ians ;  you  are  Catholic  Christians ;  you  pro- 
fess to  be  of  that  religion  which  teaches  that 
the  union  formed  by  matrimony  is  a  sacra- 
ment of  most  sublime  signification  ;  that  the 
efficacy  annexed  to  this  sacrament  is  to  con- 
vey those  graces  to  your  souls,  which  will 
enable  you  to  bear  the  trials  and  fulfil  the 
duties  of  a  married  state ;  that  being  a  sa- 
crament, it  requires,  as  an  indispensable  con- 
dition of  receiving  it  worthily,  that  your  con- 
sciences be  purified  from  the  guilt  of  grievous 
offences  at  the  time  when  vou  come  to  the 
solemnization  of  your  marriage.  On  these 
truths  which  you  profess  as  a  part  of  your 
religious  creed,  are  established  your  obliga- 
tions respecting  the  important  point  of 
which  we  now  treat ;  and  which,  perhaps. 


SERMONS.  307 

will  be  seen  clearer,  and  better  understood 
by  contrasting  them  with  that  conduct 
which  is  commonly  pursued  in  the  world. 

If  then   we   turn  our  eyes  towards  the 
generality  of  those  who  design  to  engage  in 
matrimony,  we  must  acknowledge  that  three 
very  prevailing  abuses  present  themselves  to 
our  view :  in  the  first  place,  they  form  their 
engagements  without  reflection  on,  or  refer- 
ence to  those  purposes,  for  which  marriage 
was  instituted,  and  raised  to  such  eminent 
dignity  in  the  church  of  God  :  secondly,  they 
form  them  imprudently,  without  consulting 
those  persons  to  whom  they  should  look  up 
for  advice  and  direction ;  and  without  those 
sacred  regards  to  the  security  of  their  own 
faith,  or  that  of  the  issue,  which  may  be  the 
fruit  of  their  marriage,  they  use  no  solicitude 
to  cleanse  and   preserve  their  consciences 
from  the  contagion  and  defilement  of  sin. 
These  defects  are  directly  opposite  to  their 
obligations,  and  tend   to  render  their  mar- 
riages criminal  before  God,  and  sovereignly 
unhappy  for  themselves. 

I  said  first,  that  engagements  of  matrimony 
are  made  generally  without  any  reflection 
on,  or  deliberate  purpose  of  referring  and  or- 


308  SERMONS. 

daining  it  to  those  ends  for  which  it  was  in- 
stituted by  eternal  wisdom.  To  follow  the 
impulse  of  a  violent,  or  a  romantic,  or  a  mer- 
cenary passion,  and  to  escape  from  the  con- 
trol and  watchfulness  of  parental  authority, 
are  the  objects  most  generally  sought  for  in 
matrimony — the  ends  for  wdiich  it  is  solicit- 
ed and  embraced.  But  were  these  pur- 
poses contemplated  by  Divine  Providence  in 
its  institution  ?  Let  us  consult  revelation  on 
this  head.  Soon  after  the  creation  of  Adam, 
his  Creator  made  provision  for  the  binding 
of  him  ill  society,  that  he  might  enjoy  its 
comforts.  It  is  not  good,  says  God,  speaking 
of  Adam, /or  man  to  he  alone ;  let  us  make 
him  a  help  like  to  himself.  Gen.  ii.  18.  Again, 
in  the  Book  of  Tobias,  the  Holy  Ghost  pro- 
poses to  us  the  example  of  a  marriage  con- 
ducted in  perfect  conformity  to  the  will  of 
God;  and  young  Tobias  thus  expresses  his 
views  and  holy  purpose  in  contracting  his 
union  with  the  virtuous  daughter  of  Raguel : 
Lord,  says  he,  thou  knowest  that  not  for 
fleshly  lust  do  I  take  my  sister  to  wife,  hut 
only  for  the  love  of  posterity,  in  which  thy 
name  may  he  blessed  for  ever  and  evermore. 
Tob.  viii.  9.     Finally,  St.  Paul  in  his  first 


SERMONS.  309 

Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  assigns  another 
reason  and  end  to  be  obtained  by  marriage ; 
which  is,  that  it  may  operate  as  a  restraint 
on  unlawful  desires  and  criminal  excesses. 
How  delicate,  my  brethren,  is  the  function  of 
the  ministry  of  the  word  in  these  times,  when 
we  dare  not  use,  in  your  presence,  the  ex- 
pression of  St.  Paul  himself,  upon  this  sub- 
ject, without  offending  that  fastidious  deli- 
cacy, which  is  often  much  more  punctilious 
in  criticising  the  language  of  the  pulpit,  than 
they  who  object  to  it,  are  observant  of  de- 
cency in  words  and  actions.  Tsmj,  says  the 
apostle,  to  the  unmarried^  and  to  the  widows, 
it  is  good  for  them,  if  they  so  continue  even  as 
I:  but  if  their  experience  convince  them  of 
the  need  of  providing  against  imminent  dan- 
gers to  their  virtue,  let  them  marry. 

These  then  are  the  ends  of  matrimony,  as 
laid  down  in  the  revealed  word  of  God  ;  in 
the  first  place  to  obtain  the  assistance  and 
consolations  derivable  from  the  society  of  a 
companion,  who  being  of  a  correspondent 
temper  and  manners,  and  trained  in  similar 
habits,  will  participate  with  sensibility  and 
affection,  in  all  the  duties  and  domestic 
cares ;  who  will  assist  the  other  partner  to 


310  SERMONS. 

bear  afflictions  with  patience,  and  blessings 
with  thankfulness  and  gratitude ;  who  will 
not  add  weight  to  the  unavoidable  cares  of 
life,  by  brutal  insult  and  intemperance,  or  by 
the  asperity  and  endless  contradictions  of  an 
ungovernable  temper. 

But  do  considerations  of  this  kind  sway 
your  choice  of  partners  for  life?  On  the 
contrary,  does  not  a  blind  and  unreflecting 
passion  impose  continually  on  the  willing 
credulity  of  most  young  persons,  who  pur- 
posely cast  a  veil  over  their  eyes,  that  they 
may  not  see  those  defects  and  vices  in  the 
objects  of  their  partiality,  which  strike  every 
other  beholder?  Do  they  not  rashly  and 
presumptuously  flatter  themselves,  with  the 
vain  hope  of  working  a  reform  in  those  on 
whom  the  powerful  motives  of  religion,  the 
persuasions  of  parental  tenderness,  and  the 
admonitions  of  friendship  made  no  impres- 
sion ?  Blind  to  every  thing  else,  and  only 
seeing  the  pleasing  outside  of  the  object, 
with  which  they  are  enamored,  they  never 
bestow  a  serious  thought  on  the  disparity  of 
temper,  the  variance  of  their  propensities, 
the  unsuitableness  of  their  manners,  and  for- 
getting that  they  ought  to  seek  in  marriage 


SERMONS.  311 

the  assistance  and  comforts  of  a  virtuous 
companion,  they  cast  themselves  into  the 
power  of  intemperance,  of  prodigality,  of  sor- 
did avarice,  of  unblushing  licentiousness,  or 
the  caprices  of  every  irregular  emotion,  to 
which  the  human  heart  can  be  a  prey.  Do 
marriages  so  formed  deserve  to  be  honored,  I 
say  not  by  the  visible  presence  of  Jesus  and 
Mary,  as  that  spoken  of  in  the  Gospel,  but 
even  by  his  invisible  grace  and  blessing  ? 
Are  they  worthy  of  being  representations  of 
the  union  of  Christ  with  his  church  ?  Must 
not  unhappiness  and  vexation  be  the  issue  of 
such  marriages  ?  Will  not  offences  against 
heaven  be  multiplied  in  consequence  of  en- 
gagements so  indiscreetly,  and  I  may  almost 
add,  so  wickedly  formed  ? 

Another  end,  for  which  matrimony  was 
designed,  is  that  which  was  observed  before, 
is  mentioned  by  the  virtuous  Tobias,  the  love 
of  posterity,  in  which  the  name  of  the  Lord 
may  he  blessed  for  ever  and  evermore.  Who- 
ever loves  God,  and  is  penetrated  with  a 
grateful  sense  of  his  manifold  blessings  and 
favors,  must  wish  and  rejoice,  that  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  of  tongues  should  pro- 
claim his  greatness,  and  sing  forth  his  praises ; 


312  SERMONS. 

and  whoever  are  disposed  to  engage  in  mat- 
rimony, while  their  minds  are  under  this  im- 
pression of  love  for,  and  gratitude  to  God, 
will  refer  their  intended  union  not  merely  to 
the  purpose  of  having  a  posterity  to  inherit 
their  own  names,  but   to  honor   the   great 
Creator  and  Father  of  mankind ;  they  will 
resolve  to  receive  the  children  w^ith  which 
heaven  may  bless  their  marriage,  as  gifts  to 
be  rendered  back  to  him  from  whom  they 
may  be  received,  and  offered  to  be  impressed 
with  the  character  of  his  adopted  children. 
Thus  their  natural  birth  will  be  a  prepara- 
tion for  their  regeneration  to  God  through 
Jesus  Christ,  in  the  waters  of  baptism.     How 
far  above  and  superior  to  the  vulgar  and 
common  estimate  of  marriage,  is  this  view  of 
it,  exhibited   by  our  divine   religion  ?     and 
how  much  is  it  to  be  wished,  for  the  happi- 
ness of  mankind,  that  it  were  always  con- 
sidered in  this  light  ? 

The  last  in  order,  as  well  as  the  lowest  in 
perfection,  of  the  ends  of  matrimony,  is  that 
of  which  St.  Paul  speaks  in  the  passage  before 
cited,  and  which  he  addresses  to  unmarried 
persons— signifying  to  them,  that  they  may 
find   in    marriage   a   defence    and  resource 


SERMONS.  313 

against  the  assaults  of  temptation,  and  the  un- 
steadiness of  their  virtue.  He  calls  marriage 
a  remedy  for  the  cure  of  so  grievous  a  disor- 
der; but  he  knew  too  well  the  excellency 
and  sublime  perfection  of  our  religion,  to  say 
that  this  was  the  only  remedy,  or  that  this 
remedy  was  necessarily  to  be  used  ;  he  knew 
that  these  sacraments  and  graces  of  Jesus 
Christ  were  sufficient,  if  not  to  suppress,  at 
least  to  subdue  our  passions,  and  overcome 
inveterate  habits ;  and  therefore,  speaking  in 
another  place  of  his  own  inward  conflicts,  he 
says :  Who  shall  deliver  vie  from  the  body  of 
this  death?  The  grace  of  God  by  Jesus 
Christ,  our  Lord  (Kom,  vii.  24),  and  even 
where  he  recommends  the  remedy  of  mar- 
riages as  a  preservative  against  sin,  he  takes 
care  to  inform  us,  that  it  is  granted  as  an  in- 
dulgence, and  not  imposed  as  a  commcuul- 
nient. — 1  Cor.  vii.  6.  Wherefore,  if  amongst 
you,  dear  brethren,  there  be  any  who  unfor- 
tunately are  entangled  in  criminal  habits 
and  connexions;  if  you  have  been  drawn 
again  into  sin,  by  the  prevalence  of  that  em- 
pire which  sensual  passions  have  gained  over 
you,  remember  that  one  of  the  purposes  of  the 
institution  of  marriage  is,  to  cover  you  from 
27 


o 


14  SERMONS. 


the  attacks  of  impure  desires ;  and  if  you 
have  not  courage  and  resolution  enough  to 
fight  for  a  more  glorious  victory  over  them, 
avail  yourselves  of  that  resource  which  mar- 
ria2:e  offers  vou. 

Having  now  enumerated  the  excellent 
and  salutary  purposes  for  which  marriage 
was  instituted,  it  is  left  to  you  to  consider 
whetlier,  when  you  form  designs  of  future  al- 
liances and  the  thoughts  of  a  matrimonial 
establishment  occupy  your  minds,  whether, 
I  say,  you  keep  in  your  view  those  ends  for 
which  Divine  Providence  ordained  the  conju- 
gal union  7  Do  you  not  rather  comtemplate 
the  attainment  of  other  purposes  ?  Do  you 
not  propose  to  deliver  yourselves  from  the 
control  of  parental  authority,  and  to  possess 
yourselves  of  wealth,  pre-eminence  and  sen- 
sual gratifications  ?  Are  not  these  alone  the 
objects  which  your  hearts  desire  ? 

A  second  cause,  why  so  many  marriages 
prove  unhappy,  and  are  deprived  of  the 
blessings  promised  by  God,  is  the  reprehen- 
sible and  criminal  rashness  and  imprudence 
with  which  they  are  contracted.  No  event 
of  life  entails  such  lasting  consequences,  nor 
is  so  pregnant  with  happiness  or  misery,  and 


SERMONS.  315 

therefore  none  demands  more  recourse  bv 
prayer  to  God  for  direction,  or  stands  more 
in  need  of  disinterested  advice.  In  the  sea- 
son of  youth,  the  tide  of  passions  runs  with 
tlie  greatest  rapidity,  and  requires  the  direc- 
tion of  steady  experience  and  the  tenderest 
solicitude.  Where  will  young  persons  be  so 
sure  of  finding  this  assistance  as  from  their 
parents  ?  I  speak  at  present  of  the  general- 
ity of  parents,  and  not  of  those  unnatural 
murderers  of  their  children's  happiness,  who 
are  ready  to  sacrifice  it  to  the  demons  of 
interest  and  ambition.  I  hope  there  are  none 
such  amongst  the  hearers  to  whom  I  now 
address  myself  But  I  fear  there  are, 
amongst  their  sons  and  daughters,  some 
who,  with  the  rash  confidence  so  fatal  to  their 
age,  engage  themselves  under  solemn  pro- 
mises of  marriage  without  asking  the  advice 
they  need  so  much,  or  obtaining  that  con- 
sent, which  it  is  so  much  their  obligation  to 
solicit.  After  this  first  undutiful  act  of  en- 
gaging themselves  without  the  knowledge  of 
their  parents,  they  then  make  advantage  of 
their  very  undutifulness  to  extort,  not  con- 
sent, but  painful  acquiescence.  What  is  too 
frequently  the   consequence  of  these  mar- 


o 


16  SERMONS. 


riages  ?  Reflection  succeeds  to  the  first  ar- 
dors of  passion ;  the  hand  of  time  brushes 
away  the  mist,  which  concealed  from  their 
eyes  those  blemishes  and  stains  which  were 
conspicuous  to  every  one  else  :  mutual  cold- 
ness, disesteem,  disrespect,  dissension,  and 
fmally,  hatred,  follow  each  other,  and  a  mar- 
ried state  into  which  the  parties  entered 
with  so  little  respect  for  the  laws  of  God, 
instead  of  being  attended  with  happiness,  be- 
comes the  most  miserable  condition  on  earth. 
Amongst  other  concurrent  causes  of  so 
great  misfortunes  and  lasting  depravity,  may 
we  not  account  that  which  is  recorded  in  the 
2Gth  chapter  of  Genesis,  that  Esau  married 
Judith . . .  and  Bascmath  ....  and  offended 
the  mind  of  his  Father  and  Mother,  Isaac 
and  Rebecca  ?  Ought  you  not  to  keep  be- 
fore your  eyes  this  memorable  example  of 
God's  severity  in  punishing  filial  undutiful- 
ness  ?  Should  it  not  deter  you  from  being 
guilty  of  the  same  transgression,  lest  you 
likewise  become  victims  of  Divine  justice, 
and  punished  in  your  posterity  through  many 
generations,  for  having  violated  the  sanctity 
of  marriage  by  your  undutiful  conduct  in 
contracting  it  7 


SERMONS.  317 

It  results  from  these  observations,  that  it 
is  the  duty  of  young  persons,  a  duty  sug- 
gested by  reason,  as  well  as  religion,  to  con- 
sult and  take  direction  from  their  parents, 
before  they  make  proposals  of  marriage  or 
give  their  unconditional  consent  to  tliem. 
It  is  true  the  parents  have  no  right  to  com- 
pel the  choice  of  their  children ;  and  this,  so 
far  from  being  a  prerogative  attached  to 
their  condition,  would  be  a  cruel  and  un- 
warrantable exercise  of  authority;  but  na- 
tural and  revealed  religion  equally  teach, 
that  they  have  a  right  to  advise  and  object ; 
that  their  objections  should  have  the  great- 
est weight ;  and  generally  speaking,  should 
be  definitive  against  the  union  which  they 
condemn. 

Nor  is  the  authority  of  the  parents  only 
to  be  consulted  on  these  occasions.  The  or- 
dinances of  religion,  the  salutary  maxims  and 
directions  of  the  Church  require  your  dutiful 
obedience.  It  has  been  mentioned  to  you 
already,  that  two  of  the  purposes  for  which 
marriage  was  instituted,  are:  first,  the  conso- 
lation and  encouragement  to  be  found  under 
the  burthens  of  this  life,  in  the  company  and 
assistance  of  a  person,  united  in  disposition 
27* 


318  SERMONS. 

and  similar  habits  of  faith  and  piety  towards 
God :  and  secondly,  the  hope  of  posterity, 
which  may  honor  their  Maker  by  the  docility 
to  his  law,  and  the  devout  exercises  of  praise, 
thankfulness  and  union,  with  Christ  in  the 
great  Eucharistic  offering  to  his  eternal 
Father.  Now,  to  correspond  with  these  de- 
signs of  Providence,  it  is  ordained  by  the 
Church,  that  its  members  should  choose  for 
their  indissoluble  companions  through  life, 
only  such  as  are  united  in  the  profession  of 
the  same  faith.  Under  the  law  of  Moses, 
this  was  prescribed  with  the  greatest  rigor, 
and  the  violation  of  the  law  punished  with 
the  most  exemplary  severity.  In  this  dis- 
pensation of  grace  under  Jesus  Christ,  to 
deviate  from  this  rule  is  to  expose  your  own 
happiness,  as  well  as  that  of  the  children 
you  may  have,  to  the  greatest  danger.  The 
opposite  religious  opinions  of  the  father  and 
mother  serve  to  perplex,  and  finally  to  make 
their  children  indifferent  about  the  tenets  or 
practices  of  Christianity ;  and  being  thus  in- 
different, they  fall  an  easy  prey  to  the  artifi- 
cial sophistry  of  deists,  and  finally  discard 
from  their  minds  even  the  belief  of  God's 
moral  government.     I  have  spoken  so  often 


SERMONS.  319 

and  so  much  against  marriages  thus  con- 
tracted, as  to  render  it  the  less  necessary  to 
add  more  at  present,  except  it  be  to  bear 
this  public  testimony  against  them,  and  ex- 
press my  deep  concern,  that  we  are  so  often 
compelled,  for  fear  of  greater  evils,  to  lend 
our  ministry  to  their  celebration.  If  some  of 
them  be  attended  with  salutary  conse- 
quences, many  leave  us  cause  for  the  most 
poignant  sorrow,  and  almost  induce  us  to 
repent  that  we  ever  concurred  in  forming 
them.  Finally,  another  common  abuse  pre- 
ceding marriage  is,  that  in  the  interval  be- 
tween the  engagement  and  celebration  of  it, 
little  care  is  taken  to  preserve  or  to  free  their 
consciences  from  the  burthen  and  contagion 
of  sin.  Need  I  admonish  you,  my  dear 
brethren,  that  the  promise  of  marriage  does 
not  exempt  you  from  the  obligation  of  lead- 
ing chaste  lives,  and  preserving  the  original 
integrity  of  your  bodies  and  minds  ?  that  it 
is  still  sinful  for  you  to  admit  deliberately 
those  thoughts  or  desires,  which  purity  en- 
deavors always  to  suppress  ?  to  hear  those 
conversations  which  call  up  the  blushes  of 
innocence?  or  suffer  those  familiarities, 
which  weaken  the  delicacy  and  sensibility  of 


320  SERMONS. 

virtue,  and  diminish  the  holy  and  filial  fear 
of  God  in  your  souls  ?     If  during  those  days 
of  danger,   which    intervene    between   the 
promise  and  its  solemnization,  you  should  be- 
come less  careful  of  yourselves,  less  solicitous 
of  offending  God,  will  there  not  be  reason  to 
suspect  your  preparation  for  receiving  the 
sacrament  of  matrimony  7     As  a  sacrament 
of  Divine  institution,  it  requires  in  those  who 
are  admitted  to  it,  a  conscience  purified  from 
the  stains  of  sin,  otherwise  they  would  be 
guilty  of  a  profanation  and  sacrilege;  and 
where  they  ought  to  receive  a  blessing,  and 
graces  to  fulfil  the  obligations  of  their  new 
state,  they  will,  on  the  contrary,  draw  upon 
themselves  the  displeasure,  and  perhaps,  alas! 
the  curse  of  Heaven.    From  these  considera- 
tions, let  me  exhort  you  to  make  this  christian 
resolution:  before  marriage,  to  seek  above  all 
things,  to  render  Heaven  propitious  to  it,  not 
only  by  avoiding  offences  against  the  law  of 
God,  but  by  the  exercises  of  christian  peni- 
tence to  expiate  those  committed  heretofore ; 
to  have  recourse  to  the  sacraments  of  for- 
giveness and  the  Holy  Eucharist,  some  days 
previous  to  marriage ;  and  if  any  thing  should 
disturb  again  the  peace  of  your  consciences 


SERMONS.  321 

before  the  day  destined  for  its  celebration, 
seek  a  new  tranquillity  and  reconciliation  in 
the  tribunal  of  confession. 

May  the  mercy  of  God  render  these  in- 
structions profitable  to  those  to  whom  they 
were  principally  addressed,  as  well  as  to  us 
all,  that  we  may  enjoy  both  temporal  and 
eternal  happiness.  d.  g. 


JOHN    IMEI7RPHV, 

PRINTER,  PUBLISHER  &  BOOKSELLER, 
146  Market  street,  Baltimore, 

Han  recently  adJcd  to  his  former  business  a  BOOK  STOKE  and  BOOK 
BINDERY  which  arc  worked  in  connection  with  one  ov  the  most  com- 
plete AND  EXTENSIVE  PRINTING  ESTABL1SH3IENTS  IN  THE  COUNTRY,  UndCF 

the  same  roof  and  under  liis  own  immediate  superintendence.  To  such  88 
contemplate  Printing  or  Publishing,  the  advantages  resulting  from  this  com- 
bination enable  him  to  offer  inducements  pecuniary  and  otherwise  not  attain- 
able under  other  circumstances.  His  facilities,  in  point  of  room  and  mate- 
rials, are  such  as  will  enable  him  to  execute  all  orders  in  his  line  in  the 
neatest  manner,  at  short  notice,  and  on  the  most  accommodating  terms. 
He  tenders  his  services  to  the  public  under  the  full  assurance  that  no  effort 
will  be  wanting  on  his  part  to  furnish  such  orders  as  he  may  receivCj  either 
for  Pkinting  or  Books,  in  a  satisfactory  manner. 

Good  Articles,  Low  Prices,  and  Puncttialily  may  be  relied  on. 

A  general  assortment  of  School  Books,  Stationery,  fyc.  constantly  on  hand. 

LIST  OF  CATIIOLIC  mH?Kr?ilLlsiE^^        SALE  AS  ABOVE. 

^  liberal  discoujit  made  to  the  Trade,  the  Rev.  Clergy,  Religious  Societies,  4'c.  ifc. 

Concilia  Piovincialia,  Baltimori  Kabita  ab  Anno  1829 
usque  ad  Annum  1S41.     1  vol.  bvo.  boards,      .  .         .         1  00 

Compendium  Ritualis  Romani,  ad  usum  Dioecesum  Pro- 
vincijB  Baltimorcnsis,  jussu  Concilii  Provincialis  Baltiraorensis  in.,  ap- 
probanteSS.  D.  N.Gbegorio  PP.  XVI.,editum.  1  vol.  12mo.  sheep,     1  00 

Excerpta  ex  Rituali  Romano  pro  administratione  Sacra- 
mentorum,  ad  Commodiorem  Missionariorum  Dioecesum  Provinci*  Bal- 
timorcnsis usnm,  juxta  Decretum  Concilii  Baltimorcnsis  iii.,  approbante  SS. 
D.  N.  Gregorio  PP.  XVI.  1  vol.  32mo.  roane,  ....  50 
The  above  works  (printed  by  order  of  the  last  Provincial  Council)  are 
sold  at  very  low  prices,  the  style  in  which  they  are  gotten  up,  and  the 
limited  sales,  taken  into  consideration.  They  are  beautifully  printed  oa 
fine  paper,   and  may  each  be  had  in  a  variety  of  bindings. 

A  Conference  on  the  Authority  of  the  Church,  held 
March  1st,  1679,  between  Ja.mes  Benignus  Bossuet,  Bishop  of 
Condom  (af^terwards  of  Meaux),  and  John  Claude,  Calvinist  Minister  at 
Charenton;  together  with  Reflections  on  a  Treatise  by  M.  Claude,  by  the 
Bishop  of  Condom.  First  American,  from  the  last  London  edition.  1  vol. 
8vo.  bound  in  boards,  .         .         .         .......         60 

Catechism  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  published  by  com- 
mand of  Pope  Pius  V.  Translated  into  English,  by  the  Rev.  J.  Donovan, 
Professor,  &c.  Royal  College,  Maynooth.  First  American  from  the  Dublin 
edition.  1  vol.  octavo,  bound  in  cloth,       .         .  .         •         •         1  50 

Sermons  on  the  Four  Marks  of  the  Church,  with  illus- 
trations, by  the  Rev.  John  Fletcher,  D.D.  2  vols.  8vo.  bd  in  bds,    2  50 

Sermons  on  various  Religious  and  Moral  Subjects,  by 
the  Rev.  John  Fletcher,  D.  D.  1  vol.  8vo.  bd  in  boards,  .         .         1  50 

A  History  of  the  Protestant  "  Reformation"  in  England 
and  Ireland,  showing  how  that  event  has  impoverished  and  degraded 
the  main  body  of  the  people  in  those  countries — in  a  series  of  letters,  ad- 
dressed to  all  sensible  and  just  Englishmen,  by  Wm.  Cobbett.  To  which 
is  added,  his  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Rodan,  on  the  subject  of  Religion,  1  vol. 
12mo.  boards, 50 

The  Book  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church :  in  a  series  of 
letters  addressed  to  Robert  Southey,  Esq.  LL.  D.  on  his  "Book  of  the 
Church."    By  Charles  Butler,  Esq.   1  vol.  12mo.  boards,        .        .        60 


List  of  Catholic  Books  Published  by  John  Murphy. 


Challoner's  History  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
1  7ol.  sup.  royal,  32mo bO 

A  Sure  Way  to  find  out  the  True  Religion,  in  a  Con- 
versation between  a  Father  and  his  Son.    By  the  Rev.  T.  Baddely. 
1  vol.  sup.  royal,  32mo 25 

PRAYER  BOOKS. 

St.  Joseph's  Manual,  or  Catholic  Guide  during  the  Morn- 
ing and  Evcnins  Service  of  the  Church.      Compiled  by  the  Rev.  E. 
Damphoux,  D.  D.,  1  vol.  sup.  royal,  32mo.  bound  in  sheep,     .         .         62i 
It  may  be  had  in  a  variety  of  bindings. 

The  Ursuline  Manual,  or  a  Collection  of  Prayers,  Spi- 
ritual Exercises,  &c.  interspersed  with  the  various  instructions  neces- 
sary for  forroina;  youth  to  the  pr.ictice  of  Solid  Piety. 

This  Prayer  Book  is  embellished  with  beautiful  steel  engravings,  and  may 
be  had  in  a  variety  of  bindings,  varying  in  price,  from  $1  to  ^2  50. 

T?iowers  of  Piety,  selected  from  approved  sources  and 

_L     adapted  for  general  use. 

This  is  a  neat  miniature  Prayer  Book,  embellished  with  beautiful  steel 
engpravings,  and  may  be  had  in  a  variety  of  bindings,  varying  iu  price  from 
25cts.  to  $1  50. 

The  Christian's  Guide  to  Heaven  ;  or,  a  Manual  of  Spi- 
BiTUAL  Exercises;  for  the  use  of  Catholics,      ....        25 

The  Christian's  Companion  to  Prayer,  the  Sacraments, 
and  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  Mass.     32mo 25 

Daily  Exercises  ;  consisting  of  the  Holy  Mass  and  Ves- 
pers, with  morning  and  evening  prayers.     To  which  is  added  a  selec- 
tion of  Hymns,  48mo. 25 

This  is  a  very  neat  and  convenient  little  miniature  Prayer  Book — it  can  be 
had  in  every  variety  of  binding,  varying  in  price  from  25  cents  to  $1  00. 

The  Rosary  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  32mo.  paper,      .     6| 

THE    CABINET   LIBRARY. 

John  Murphy,  has  recently  commenced  the  publication  of  a  uniform  se- 
ries of  Juvenile  Works,  translated  from  the  French,  under  the  name  of  the 
"CABINET  LIBRARY."  The  publication  of  this  series  was  undertaken, 
under  the  conviction,  that  in  affording  to  children  a  pleasing  method  of  instruc- 
tion, he  would  greatly  facilitate  the  attainment  of  an  object  which  christian 
parents  have  so  raucli  at  heart,  the  virtuous  training  of  their  offspring. 
With  these  views,  the  Cabinet  Library  is  offered  to  the  patronage  of  the 
community,  with  the  hope  that  it  will  meet  with  a  liberal  support. 

Great  pains  are  taken  in  selecting  and  getting  up  this  little  Library;  each 
volume  will  contain  about  160  pages,  32rao.,  they  will  be  beautifully  printed 
on  fine  white  paper — each  number  is  illustrated  with  a  neat  engraving,  and 
n  beautiful  title  page,  printed  in  fancy  colors,  ornamental  chapter  heads,  &c. 
A  number  of  the  Library  will  appear  every  two  or  three  months — they 
will  be  neatly  done  up  in  paper  and  ornamental  cloth,  with  gilt  edges,  &c. 
which  will  be  very  appropriate  for  premiums,  presents,  &c. 

Price  in  ornamental  paper,  full  bound,  25  cents.     Cloth,  gilt,  37^  cts. 
Works  published  in  the  Cabinet  Library. 
No.  1.  MARIA,  OR  Confidence  in  God  Ultimately  Rewarded. 
No.  2.  THE  WOODEN  CROSS,  by  C.  Schmid. 
No.  3.  THE  LILY  OF  THE  VALLEY. 
No.  4  will  appear  in  February. 

rt(?- FRENCH  ENGRAVINGS,  PIOUS  MEDALS,  CRUCIFIXES,  PRAYER 
BEADS,  &c.  are  kept  constantly  on  hand,  and  sold  at  very  moderate  prices. 


Preparing  for  publication,   and  will  be  ready  early  in  1843. 

ALTAR  CARDS,  siiiuible  for  Missionaries,  &c.— Tliese  Cards  are  in  preparation 
ander  the  superintendence  of  a  Reverend  gentleman  of  acknowledged  taste  and 
judgment  in  such  matters;  also, 

PRTEPAUATIO  AD  MISSAM  pro  opportunitate  Sacerdolis  facienda. 

GRATIARUM  ACTIONES  post  Missam. 

They  will  be  handsomely  illustrated,  and  sold  at  very  moderate  prices. 


In  Press,  and  will  be  published  early  in  1843. 

A   MANUAL  OF  CATHOLIC   MELODIES, 

Hymns,  Psalms,  &c.  with  the  ordinary  Exercises  of  Plety» 

Ihibliibed  with  the  approbation  of  ttic  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  WhcLin. 

The  author  of  the  work  mentioned  above  was  led  to  the  compilation  of  it  by  a  de- 
sire 10  supply  what  he  considered  a  notable  deficiency  in  the  stock  of  sacred  music 
in  this  country.  It  may  be  said  that,  in  general,  the  various  collections  of  nmsic  in- 
tended for  the  Church  service  arc  ample  enough  in  their  materials ;  but  so  far  we  are 
)n  want  of  a  Manual  adapted  to  family  use,  to  school  purposes,  or  to  the  pious  enter- 
tainment of  youth  on  such  occasions  as  first  communion,  catechetical  instruction, 
&c.,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  cause  of  religion  would  be  extensively  aided  by 
the  publication  of  a  work  of  this  description,  furnished  witli  good  materials  and  ju- 
diciously arranged.  It  is  hoped  that  the  Manual  now  offered  to  the  public  will  be 
found  to  conibine  these  advantages.  It  has  been  compiled  from  the  most  approved 
works,  and  presents,  in  addition  to  the  usual  devotional  exercises,  a  methodical  series 
of  Hymns,  Anthems,  Psalms,  &c.,  each  accompanied  with  an  appropriate  melody, 
and  so  arranged  as  to  answer  every  purpose  of  Catholic  piety  and  worship. 

TERMS— The  work  will  be  comprised  in  about  400  pages,  18mo.  It  will  be 
printed  on  fine  paper,  and  delivered  to  subscribers,  well  bound  in  sheep,  at  $1  per 
copy.  A  liberal  discount  will  be  made  to  Clergymen,  Teachers,  Sunday  School 
Societies,  Pious  Confraternities  and  otliers,  who  may  want  the  work  by  tlic  quantity. 


PROSPECTUS    OF    TH  E 

U.  STATES  CATHOLIC  MACJAZIIVE, 

v5  Monthly  Periodical,  containing  chiefly  selections  from  the  best  Catholic 
Reviews,  and  other  publications. 

The  work  hitherto  issued  under  the  name  of  the  Religious  Cabinet,  is  now 
issued  under  the  title  of  the  United  States  Catholic  Maoazine.  This  change 
has  been  made  by  the  proprietors,  at  the  solicitation  of  several  friends  of  the  pe- 
riodical, who  were  desirous  that  its  name  should  be  more  definitely  expressive  of 
the  character  which  it  proposes  to  sustain. 

In  entering  upon  the  second  volume  of  the  work,  the  publisher  would  respect- 
fully invite  attention  to  the  object  and  condition  of  the  periodical.  The  United  States 
Catholic  Magazine  is  an  ecclesiastical  and  literary  jounial,  having  for  its  aim  to  de- 
fend and  advance  the  cause  of  Catholicity,  by  imparting  such  inlbrmation  as  may 
have  a  bearini',  however  remote,  upon  the  interests  of  religion.  Its  pages  will  be 
open  therefore' to  controversial  and  moral  essays,  tales  illustrative  of  Catholic  prac- 
tice, historical  sketches,  communications  on  the  progress  of  science,  poetry,  and 
in  general  to  all  ecclesiastical  and  literary  intelligence.  The  publication  was  com- 
menced, under  its  former  title,  in  January,  1842,  and  though  a  very  limiteii  exertion 
was  made  to  procure  subscriptions,  it  has  acquired  a  solid  fooling,  and  its  circulation 
is  continually  on  the  increase;  a  circumstance  which  maybe  considered,  not  pre- 
sumptuously, as  a  favorable  evidence  of  the  merit  which  it  enjoys  in  the  public 
estimation.  Tlie  co-operation  that  has  been  secured  in  the  preparation  of  its  con- 
tents,will  furnish  in  future  a  more  varied,  and  a  more  able  list  of  articles.  It  is  the 
design  of  the  publisher  to  make  such  improvements  in  the  paper  and  typography  as 
will  present  the  work  in  a  slvle  unsurpassed  in  point  of  finish  and  elegant  appear- 
ance. To  enable  him  to  accomplish  this  design,  and  to  produce  a  periodical  which 
the  Catholic  body  in  the  United  States  may  feel  no  hesitation  in  ranking  among  the 
most  useful  and  most  interesting  channels  of  instruction,  (and  he  can  say  with  con- 
fidence that  as  regards  cheapness,  it  will  compete  with  any  similar  publication  in  the 
United  Stiites,)  he  solicits  a  continuance  of  their  patronage. 

TERMS.  — The  United  States  Catholic  Magazine  is  issued  regularly, 
on  the  first  of  every  month,  and  each  number  will  consist  of  sixty-four  pages, 
8vo.  printed  in  handsome  type  and  on  fine  paper,  at  Three  Dollars  jicr  Jinnum, — 
2  copies  for  f  5  ;  4  copies  for  $  10  ;  10  copies  for  $  20  —  payable  in  advance. 

All  letters  and  communications  must  be  fOst-paU  and  directed  to  John  Morphy, 
Publisher,  146  Market  sueet,  Baltimore. 


936.09 
G2363 


OULUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 


0315023842 


JAW 


3     1957 


mif: 


A-A> 


'W^- 
*^«:^< 


■'■\j«u?:.i'.> 


